A Little Piece of Me
by sissybear
Summary: A personal tragedy brings two young men and a lot of surprises into Jack's life. SamJack. edited some previous chaps mostly for spelling and a couple content. epilogue now up!
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Man, I'd have money if I did.

_A/N: Okay this story is a WIP and will always have short chapters i think. Right now there are about 12 but im going to post them over time._

**A Little Piece of Me**

Jack O'Neill stood at the bar, shots in hand, brooding. It was the day from Hell and he was there to forget. He wasn't sure if he could have answered anyone if they had asked him what was wrong. Now, if they had asked him what had gone right, that was easy. He'd put his shoes on the right feet that morning.

Their mission had seemed so easy at first. The planet was uninhabited and there wasn't much in the way for Daniel to hurt himself. Still they had been sent along with SG-9 for simple surveys.

Jack slammed a shot, remembering Lt. Stickford. The man was bright, a military mind after Jack's own heart, but that hadn't stopped the snake. Damn poisonous thing. He slammed another shot, this time for their newest recruit, what's-his-name, who shot himself in the foot climbing down the hill. What an idiot.

The last shot was for Sam. His wonderful, newly promoted, Major Carter. That beautiful 2IC of his was lying in he damn infirmary. Wrenched her knee trying to get to that dumb recruit so she could help him. Tore the ligaments nicely. Teal'c had carried her by himself, knowing he could and still operate his weapon. The rest were tied up trying to carry the other two men to the Stargate. Jack was left free to try and defend their positions.

Three people injured on one stupid mission. One of them lost for good. He had the responsibility to tell Mrs. Stickford what had happened to her husband without actually divulging any confidential information. He hated that job and normally would have left it to the office, but losing a man to something as stupid as a snakebite he felt deserved a more personal touch.


	2. ch2

The lone figure leaning against the back wall knew he had to do something, but couldn't bring himself to interrupt a man's brooding. He'd seen Jack like this before, when he first met him. His son had just died and he'd been picked to go to Abydos because he was willing to die. He didn't want to see his friend revert back to that.

There was one person who could bring Jack out of it, and unfortunately she was stuck in the infirmary until her knee was heeled. He'd just have to do his best to keep Jack out of trouble until then.

_A/N: Okay so like i said, short, but i'll be uploading every chance i get. Thanks!_


	3. ch3

_A/N: Thankyou so much to all those who have reviewed it's really uplifting!_

One more shot. This one for the letter. That damn letter that took away everything he had left of his son. Yeah, so he and Sara weren't married anymore, but that didn't mean he didn't care about her. He checked up on her every now and then. He'd call her see how she was doing. It'd been over two years since their divorce had been finalized, but he still kept in touch.

He knew why he'd been sent the letter and not Greg. He was still listed as her next of kin. He was certain given another few weeks it would have been Greg. It was just one of those things when planning a wedding you normally wouldn't think of until the last minute.

So they'd sent him the letter and he had to call Greg, and her father. He supposed they were lucky she was found early in the search. They knew she had been on that flight. She'd gone to Chicago to visit her brother and was returning home. The conversation with her father had gone as best as could be expected, the guy didn't totally hate him after all. Calling Greg had been another matter all together. He'd had lunch with him earlier so he could tell him. One of the most awkward conversations he'd ever had. How to tell you ex-wife's fiancée she was dead.

He slammed the shot and rested his head on the table. He wasn't drunk. Far from it. Four shots were nowhere near enough to even allow him a slight buzz. He might feel a little something in the morning but for now it was nothing. He wouldn't drive home. He'd never allow himself, no matter how good he felt.


	4. ch4

_A/N: Okay sorry they're so short but since I'm not finished with the story I figured the best way to upload them would be to make a chapter out of each perspective / time change. This one's a little longer. I have a long one coming up in a few chapters so i guess that's okay. Thanks again for all your reviews!_

Daniel watched as Jack laid his head on the bar top and decided now would be a good time to approach his friend. He wasn't sure what was wrong, but he was hoping to find out. Jack never talked, especially about his feelings, but maybe he was just having a bad day. It could have something to do with that letter that had showed up at the base for him.

He sat on the stool next to Jack motioning for the bartender. "Just a beer please."

"What are you doing here, Daniel?" Jack asked without lifting his head from where it rested.

"Honestly?"

"No, I want you to lie to me. Who sent you?" Jack sat up, scowling.

"Janet. She wanted to make sure you're okay." Daniel took a sip of his beer and set the glass back down.

"Yeah, well you checked up on me. You can go home now." Jack wasn't going to be cooperative and Daniel knew it. He never was.

"Jack what's going on? That mission was hard on all of us, but you're taking it harder than I thought."

"I'm taking it hard? Have you gone to see Carter?" Jack nearly shouted. "She might not recover from this. We could lose her from the team, for cryin' out loud."

"Jack, if she's not on the team, she'll still have plenty to do at the SGC. Now what else is wrong?" Daniel turned to face him, leaning an elbow on the bar top.

Jack pulled the letter out of his pocket and handed it over. Daniel opened it and quickly read the contents.

"Oh, jeez, Jack, I'm sorry." He shuffled the contents of the envelope around and took another gulp from his beer. "We're on downtime for a few weeks, what are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna be heading up to the cabin at some point, maybe. After the funerals at least." Jack hit another shot, slamming the glass on the counter.

"Funerals?" Daniel took a deeper look at the second sheet of paper. It was the passenger list for the plane.

"I also knew Karol Stevens. I'm just glad her husband and children weren't on the plane with her."

"Wow, the first plane crash in years in this area and you knew _two_ of the passengers?" Daniel looked at Jack over the rim of his glasses, shoving the sheets of paper back in the envelope.

"Yeah. Sara was on her way back from visiting her brother in Chicago. One of Karol's kids just moved to the area, she was flying down to help him move in."

"So who's Karol?"

"She was my best friend from the time I was two. My parents decided to move when I was sixteen and I lost track of her for a while. Twenty years later, she wrote me, out of the blue. We've kept in touch since then." Jack didn't normally tell anybody about his personal life, but this was Space Monkey. Granted he didn't go deep, but it was more than most people knew about him.

"Let me drive you home Jack, you've obviously had a lot to drink," Daniel insisted.

"Ah, ah, nobody drives my truck. We can take a cab." Jack threw the money down on the bar top and stood to leave. If Daniel hadn't known better, he would have never known the older man had been drinking.


	5. ch5

_A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! The chapters I have written are all preset lengths but this one is a little longer. _

Major Sam Carter lay in the infirmary bed, staring at the ceiling. She wasn't sure what time it was, but it didn't really matter. She'd be stuck under the mountain for a little over a week and a half, and then she would finally find out after months of recovery and rehabilitation if she'd be allowed back on active duty.

She heard the soft knock on her door, but tried to ignore it. She wasn't sure she could take seeing anybody at the moment.

"Hey, Carter," she heard the soft deep voice of her CO, possible former CO, call from her doorway. She didn't answer but made no motion to turn him away.

"I, uh, just wanted to come in and see how you were doing before I left the SGC for a few days. Listen, I'm gonna talk to Janet, get you out of here a few days early." He rested his hand on her limp one, hoping to get some reaction out of her. She hadn't looked into his eyes, knowing what he was thinking. She knew he would think she was weak. She was a woman in the Air Force, for cryin' out loud.

"You know, you did good out there." He leaned forward to whisper in her ear, just for her. "You don't have to prove anything to me, I already think you're amazing." He turned to leave her to her rest, knowing she was having a hard time.

"Sir! Where are you going?" It was the first words she had spoken to anybody since they had returned from the mission.

"I have something to take care of. I'm not going far. I'll come by and visit when I get back from Chicago." Jack walked forward, resting his hand gently on her forearm. He couldn't show her as much concern as he would have liked, but it was what he could do for now.

"What's in Chicago?" Her curiosity surprised him, but she was talking and it made him happy. He knew she was having a hard time dealing with the fact that she could possibly end up pulled from active duty.

"My ex brother-in-law. I have to talk to him in person." He didn't give her any more information, but under the circumstances he would tell her if she asked. She was the only person he would fully open up to if that was what she wanted.

"Sara's brother?" She knew she was getting nosy, but she really just wanted him to stay with her. She wasn't ready for him to leave. She needed the company.

"Yeah," he replied softly. He didn't want to be talking about this with his 2IC. It was his life. She was conning him into staying. It was Sam, he was okay with that, sort of. He figured she'd find out some of this anyway.

"What happened? Is Sara okay?" Sam knew Jack talked to his ex-wife every once in a while, Sara had told her as much. They had seen each other for coffee and such since they had met at the hospital. She had gently taken Sara outside during that time. Afterwards, Sam had felt bad that Sara couldn't know anything and had befriended her. They had a common link: Jack O'Neill. They never talked about him, other than to discuss the difficulties of working under him as the only female on the team. The rest of the time, they talked girl talk. It was nice having a female friend outside the SGC, as much as Sam loved having Janet Fraiser around.

"No, Sam, she's not." Jack's eyes dropped down, staring at the bed. His fingers twittled with the edge of the sheets. "There was an accident while we were away. Her plane went down in the mountains. There were no survivors."

"Oh, God, Sir! I'm sorry."

"It's uh, yeah. Greg's been trying to call you for two days, but I had to explain to him that you were laid up after an injury on our last mission. He'd like you to be at the funeral, but understands if you're not let out in time. I didn't tell him how extensive your injuries were." He gripped her hand gently squeezing it in comfort more for himself than for her. He knew she would have a hard time with this, seeing how close she and Sara had become.

He'd talked to Sara about it at times. He'd always been one to look out for his team and the three unique people he worked with on a daily basis were no different. In fact he'd been concerned with the amount of time Sam had spent inside the mountain, knowing she'd just moved into town from D.C. When she'd forged a friendship with his ex-wife, he'd been a little taken aback, but saw the positive effects it had on her work. He had to wonder if this would be a horrific set back for her.

"When's the funeral?" Sam's voice was shaky, at best.

"Saturday at 0800. I'm going to try to convince the Doc to let you out for it."

"Thank you, Sir." Her hand dropped slack in his as she turned away from him, effectively letting him know she needed time to absorb all he had told her. With a quick squeeze of her hand and a pat on her forearm, Jack left her alone with her thoughts.

_A/N: Thank you again andI hope you liked it._


	6. ch6

Jack stood stock still at Sam's side, no emotion visible on his face. Sara's father stood to his other side, while Greg shed silent tears next to Sam. The four watched silently as the coffin was lowered into the ground in front of them, next to their beloved son.

He hadn't cried when Charlie died, not openly at least. But then, he'd been trying to stay strong for Sara. That had turned FUBAR faster than he thought possible. This time, he allowed a solitary tear to slip from the bottom of his eyelid, not really caring who saw. The two people he cared the most for were now together, side by side in the ground.

Sam reached up and gently squeezed his hand in comfort, letting him know she was there for him. She was well aware he didn't need it, but it made her feel better. His responding grip let her know he was aware of what she was trying to do, and appreciated it.

The mourners started leaving the site, the group of four the only ones left standing in the silence. Greg walked forward, kneeling at the edge of the grave as the workers filled it in. The other three knew he needed his own time and left him alone.

Jack turned to Sam, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Mike said he'd bring you back to your place. Daniel will be waiting there for you."

"What about you, sir?"

"I'm heading back out to Chicago." He gave her shoulder a tight squeeze and headed back to his truck. His overnight bag was already stored, waiting for him to go.


	7. ch7

_A/N: Okay, 'nother chapter up! I think I just might give two today, just for the heck of it. Thanks again for all the reviews!_

Sam lounged in her living room, Daniel making sure she had everything she needed. Of course, Rico could always retrieve things for her as she called for them. That was his job after all.

"Daniel?" she called out to him.

"Yeah?"

"Why'd the Colonel go back to Chicago?"

"He knew someone else in the wreck. He had to get to her funeral by 3:00." Daniel came in and sat next to Sam, handing her a mug of coffee.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"The General was going to give us two weeks down time, but I think he might extend it for him. He mentioned heading up to his cabin after he checked in."

Daniel was worried about his friend, not sure how to handle him.

"Rico!" Sam shouted from the couch, waiting for her personal klutz to come running to her. The young golden retriever stopped dead in front of Sam, his happy eyes dancing for her. "Daniel, come sit down. Rico, beer."

The dog bounded from her side and into the kitchen. Everything in Sam's house had been setup by Jack before she'd been released from the infirmary, though nobody was quite sure that it had been him. When she'd gotten home with Janet, Rico had been sitting patiently just inside her front door with a note taped to his collar. He was trained as a guide dog, but would obey anything she asked him to do.

"Sam, you shouldn't be drinking that with your medication," Daniel stated exasperated, as he flopped himself into the recliner.

The dog came back, tail wagging, holding a bottle of beer in his teeth. "Bring it to Daniel, Rico."

"How does he do that?" he asked, taking the bottle from the dog and patting him on the head. He wiped the slobber of it and popped the top. "I mean the glass is smooth, there's no way for him to grip it."

"I don't know, he just does." Sam shrugged and leaned back into the couch, her eyes feeling heavy.

"How are you doing?"

"I don't know. I mean, yeah, she was the Colonel's ex-wife, but she was my best friend. Well, my other best friend." She let the tears flow freely down her cheeks, not caring how she looked for Daniel.

"Have you figured out where Rico came from yet?" Daniel quickly changed the subject as fast as he could.

"No, but I'd love to thank whoever trained him. I just wish I'd gotten him under different circumstances."

"He is a wonderful dog." Daniel paused for a moment before he remembered what he'd initially meant to tell Sam.

"Mike's coming over, to help out for a while. I have to head into the base for a few hours." Seeing the look of objection for her mother hens, he quickly added. "Janet gave us strict instructions not to leave you alone for the first two weeks you're home. Teal'c, Mike, Greg, and I have all offered to help out. I'd bring you your laptop, but Janet would probably dig out those needles Jack's so afraid of."

Sam closed her eyes in frustration and simply nodded. There was nothing she could do, she was stuck with four men who wouldn't leave her alone and the only one she truly wanted, deep down, wasn't even there.

_A/N: Okay, yeah so sorry, Sam can't go with him, her injury! Remember, Jack had to spring her from the infirmary early just for her to go to the funeral. Thanks again!_


	8. ch8

8) Two funerals in seven hours in two different states. It wasn't really something he'd ever thought he'd be doing and he definitely didn't relish the fact. It was hard enough burying his ex-wife. Now he had to watch his best friend be lowered into the ground as well.

He observed from afar, not wanting to overstep his bounds with her family. Though she'd sent him pictures, many over time, he'd never met Karol's children, though he and Richard Stevens had been friends almost as long as he and Karol had. He didn't want to intrude in case none of them knew who he was.

The family and friends of Karol Stevens started departing as Jack leaned against a tree for support. His best friend of forty years was dead.

He noticed two young men standing still, unwilling to move from their spot next to the grave. From the uniform he assumed one was Karol's son, Sean. The other must be his twin brother. He hadn't caught a look at their faces to be sure, but the teen walking away with his father was definitely her youngest son Kyle.

He realized just a little too late they were headed his way.

"Jack?" Richard said softly. He kept his hand on his son's back.

"Rick? Kyle?" Jack questioned briefly.

"Who the Hell do you think you are?" Jack winced at the young man's tone, but understood how different people handled their grief.

"Colonel Jack O'Neill, US Air Force," he answered as politely as he could.

"Kyle, I think you owe the Colonel an apology." Richard glared at his son, his obvious disapproval written across his face.

"Right, whatever. Tiff's givin' me a ride. See you later." With that the young man stormed off towards a girl waiting for him.

"I'm sorry for my son's awful behavior. He's not quite sure how to deal with any of this." The man held out his hand for Jack to take.

"It's been a long time, Rick," Jack said, walking with the man towards the vehicles.

"Yeah, too long. What, twenty six years?"

"Yeah. Thanks for taking care of Karol. I'm not quite sure what happened after I left, but I do know I didn't willingly lose touch with her." Jack's eyes roamed the crowd, focusing in on the young man he'd seen earlier.

"Do you know Sean?"

"Not quite. I haven't actually met him." Rick gave him an odd look, almost like he was sizing him up. It unsettled Jack, but knew there really wasn't any need for concern.

"Listen, Karol never spoke an ill word of you. I could tell by the letters sent between you two there was a connection there. She told me about you two. Best friends and everything."

The two men were walking back to the vehicles each heading to their own.

"I think Sean should come and talk to you when you get back to Colorado Springs."

Jack nodded slightly, and got into his truck ready to head home.


	9. ch9

_A/N: Okay, so I lied, I gave you 3 for today, but I don't think I'm going to be putting any up for a few days, maybe a week, I'm visiting relatives for Spring Break and I have to drive to Connecticut, and have no internet while I'm there. Sorry this chapter's so short!_

Jack didn't get the chance to have that talk with Sean, though. Upon leaving the cemetery, Jack had called Hammond up to check in and then headed up to his cabin without stopping back in Colorado. When he returned to the mountain some two weeks later, SG-1, minus Sam, had been ordered to start a new round of training for the new recruits.

"General, Sir, wasn't this supposed to be done almost three weeks ago?" Jack asked him, once he was settled in Hammond's office.

"It had to be postponed. One of the recruits had a relative in that accident." Hammond's face was somber. "You've been briefed. I want you to start the training session in an hour."

"Yessir."


	10. ch10

_A/N: Okay i just got back into town yesterday and it's been crazy! We just got the worst flooding since like 1936! Well, I had car trouble and my gma got kinda sick while I was in CT so I only got two chapters written, posting will probably be fairly sporadic for a while. Sorry. Thank you to all that are reading! i love the reviews._

"Daniel," Jack announced, heading into the younger man's office. "How's Carter?" He leaned against the desk, fiddling with one of Daniel's "rocks."

"Pretty depressed, Jack. Have you even been by to see her since you've been back?" Daniel stopped what he was doing and stared at his older friend.

"Why would she want me to stop by, I'm not her CO anymore." Jack shrugged his feigned indifference.

"No, you're not. But you are her friend."

Jack shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. "Hammond wants us to start the training session in an hour. I want you to do roll call at exactly 1300 whether I'm there yet or not, ok?" He'd successfully changed the subject and knew Daniel could tell he'd done it on purpose. Jack was still trying to get used to this thing with Sam not being under his command. It was confusing.

"Yeah, don't worry about it Jack." He knew the purpose of Jack's method with the recruits. The man never wanted to see who they were the first few weeks of training. Though he wouldn't admit it, Daniel knew Jack had known any of the military parents and didn't want any personal influence in his evaluations.

"Great. I'm gonna grab a bite to eat. See you in an hour."


	11. ch11

"Adams."

"Here."

"1. Johnson."

"Here."

"2. O'Neill."

"Here."

"3. Yakavasi."

"Here."

"4. You guys are group one. The Colonel will know you only by your numbers. Teal'c is assigning group 2 their numbers now."

Daniel stood in front of what would now be known as Group One. He could understand the reasoning behind Jack's use of the numbers. Over the next three weeks they'd work the groups so the eight recruits would all get a chance to work together.

At that moment Jack walked in the dark warehouse, carefully approaching the two groups. He eyeballed them carefully, summing them up as best he could. He could already spot three of the eight that wouldn't make it past the initial training.

"All right, campers! Let's get started." He watched them as closely as he could as they lined up waiting for their orders. Number three. He knew number three. It was Karol's son, Sean. He'd assumed he'd been transferred somewhere in the mountain, but hadn't quite expected him to be the recruit they'd been holding off the training for.

The first day was always mostly figuring out who worked best in what position and who was the best leader. He'd run them through building sweeps, first for people, then technology. He'd change who took point, who'd flank left, stuff like that.

At the end of the day, he'd already decided 2, 6, and 7 were going to be stuck most likely base security. They weren't going to be assigned to an SG team.

"#3, can I talk to you a moment?" Jack called out as the recruits were leaving at the end of the day.

"What can I do for you, Sir?" Sean came to a halt in front of Jack and stood at attention. Of course, he didn't know about how lax the SGC was when it came to things like that.

"At ease, Lt." Jack laughed to himself, showing just barely a smirk on the outside. "I just wanted to see how you were doing with everything, Sean; how your brothers are, your dad?"

"He's, uh, not my dad, but we're all doing great. Thanks for asking."

"Oh, sorry. Well, anyway, Rick said he was going to send you to see me once I got back into town, but since I didn't get home until late last night, I figured I'd track you down. Guess I didn't have far to go, eh?"

Jack gave the young man a crooked smile and patted his shoulder. There was something familiar about Sean that tilted Jack off kilter just slightly, but he figured it had something to do with Karol.

The two headed out of the warehouse side by side, following the rest of the groups.

"Why don't you and your wife come over for dinner tonight and we'll talk? Say, 1900?"

Sean's face turned apprehensive at the thought. He wasn't sure this was a conversation he wanted to have with his wife right there, but he didn't really have any reason to say no.

"That'd be great. We'll see you then." Sean jogged off to catch up with the rest of his group, leaving Jack walking by himself in the rear.

Daniel dropped back to talk to him.

"I didn't know you had a nephew in the Air Force," he said leading into a conversation Jack wasn't sure he wanted.

"You know I don't have any siblings. What are you talking about?" Jack scowled.

"#3, he looks just like you."

Jack threw a sideways glance his way and returned to his ponderings. This conversation with Daniel was getting a little weird for him.


	12. ch12

12) At exactly 1900 that evening, there was a knock at Jack's front door. He quickly checked the sauce for the spaghetti and wiped his hand on the dishtowel hanging from the stove's handle.

Jack didn't know what it was that Rick Stevens had wanted him to talk to Sean about, but dinner was always a good tension breaker, right? Until the young man had reported for duty, Jack had never met any of Karol's kids. In fact, on his trip home that night he had thought of what exactly he knew about Sean, which amounted to just about nil.

He knew Sean had a twin brother named Colin. He knew they were both married. He had found out from Karol that Sean and his wife had lost a child a few years back, Colin didn't have any children and he had recently found out from Sean that Rick wasn't their real father.

Unfortunately, it led him to the many things he didn't know about them. Karol had never told him how old they were, and because of the way he ran his training operations, he knew only the recruits' ranks. He preferred to see what they could do rather than who they were.

Shaking his head free of his thoughts, he opened the door to the couple that was waiting on his porch, nervously switching from foot to foot. Trying to lighten the mood, Jack spoke up. "Sean, right? I mean, you and Colin didn't switch to try and throw me off or anything, did you?" The smile on his face and the laughter in his eyes, relaxed the Lt. noticeably.

"No, Sir. Colin's still in Chicago, sir," Sean said, smiling slightly back. "This is my wife, Trish, sir."

"Please, come in." He motioned for the two to follow him. "And while you're here, it's Jack, no sir, or Colonel, or any of that." He led them into the dining room and took the thick folder he had just noticed Sean carrying, placing it on the counter for later.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I don't think I can do that," Sean replied with a soft smile. Jack just shrugged at the response.

He sat them down to dinner, which took place amicably, idle chitchat taking precedence over anything else they may have had on their minds. When it was over, Jack set the dishes to soak, and made coffee for the group.

He brought it out to them and sat across the couch where they had seated themselves. Trish politely waved off her coffee and continued to sip the water Jack had gotten her during dinner.

"So," Jack started, not really sure what they were going to talk about. "What's in the folder?" He had noticed the younger man grab it quickly off the counter at the end of dinner and now held it tightly in his grasp.

"It's why my mother headed back to Chicago so quickly after getting here." Sean shifted in his seat until his wife placed a comforting hand on his knee. "It's, uh, why I need to talk to you."

"Oh?" Jack leaned back in his chair, staring over the rim of his mug.

"It contains all the information leading to my father, my real father. You know him, very well. I sorta… need to find a way to tell him." For the first time, Jack noticed fear in the young man's eyes. He'd never seen it there during the training that day, which fully backed up his feelings that this man could be their next team leader or possibly even the replacement for Sam.

"So, who is he?" Jack was curious by nature, it only figured.

"I'm not at liberty to say just yet." Sean's eyes still held that fear, like he was afraid of saying the wrong thing. "I just recently found out why my father never knew about us, and it's just a little frustrating. Can I tell you about my parents, without any interruptions? I might not get the nerve to finish if I don't."

Jack nodded for him to continue, and noticed the comforting squeeze Trish gave him.

"No matter what I say, no matter what discoveries you realize, I'm just going to keep on going."

Sean took a breath before continuing with the beginning of his story.

"My parents were best friends their entire lives, and because of that closeness, my mom always made sure we knew who our father was, even if he never knew us. My parents grew up together, had most of their first together, including, well, you know, which happened the night before my father's family moved out of town. They kept in touch for two weeks until my mother got ill. That was basically when the 'shit hit the fan.'" Sean watched Jack's eyes, searching for a hint of understanding.

"Gramma and Gramps took her to the doctor where they found out she was pregnant, not sick. Mom wanted to run home immediately and call Dad, let him know, but Gramma and Gramps wouldn't have any of it. Since she was only sixteen, they sent her away. All her letters, outgoing and incoming, were intercepted, and Dad was never allowed to know. Pape Matt and Nan were told immediately, but they made the decision not to tell Dad.

"Mom was so scared when she found out there were two of us. She cried for hours, wanting Dad there with her. Gramma felt a little guilty during one of her visits and told Mom that Dad didn't know, otherwise she was sure he'd be there for her, but that they weren't going to tell him. Mom was pretty pissed about that, especially since his parents had supplied her doctor with his medical records to see if there was anything they needed to watch out for during the pregnancy, but had decided that she was going to track him down the very day he turned eighteen.

"Rick was the only one of their friends who stuck by Mom through everything, and was there when Colin and I were born. He had overheard Mom and Dad talking about kids names once, back before Dad even had a clue he was moving, and told Mom she should pick out names that she and Dad had discussed.

"Rick was great for Mom. He helped her take care of us every chance he could. He'd stay at the house and watch us on the weekends so Mom, Gramma and Gramps could all sleep in, or he'd watch us at night so the three of them could go out for a little alone time. He'd even take Mom out by herself so she could relax every once in a while.

"When we were two, Mom tried tracking down Dad, but his parents told her he had joined the Air Force the day he turned eighteen and was currently unreachable. Rick was there for Mom while she searched for Dad. He helped her in every way he knew how. He knew my mom loved Dad more than life itself, but he had fallen in love with her and by the time we were four, they had decided to get married. Mom did fall in love with Rick, but I think the major part that made her was the fact that he understood her need to have her boys know their father.

"Rick never seemed bitter about the fact that Mom was so focused on Dad. In fact when we were six and a half, I tried to introduce him as my dad, but he jumped in to correct me so fast I thought my head would spin. The weird thing was, though, that I had at first thought he was mad that he wasn't our dad, but he sat me down and told me that he was there for us and our mom, but would never try to replace Dad. Rick always treated us like we were his own, but would tell us all about our dad if we asked.

"We were always surrounded by pictures of Dad. Pape Matt would send us current ones and what our father was up to when he could, but would never tell him about us. I thought it was so unfair. I got in a fight with Pape Matt when I was thirteen about it.

"When we were nine, Kyle was born. Even though Rick wasn't our Dad, Kyle was as much our brother as Colin and I were. We didn't treat him any different and we never put any emphasis on the fact that he was only our half brother.

"The years went by slowly. We would hear little snippets from Pape Matt every now and then about Dad, like when he got married, and when his son was born. Colin and I each got a picture of our brother.

"We graduated top of the class, and I joined the Air Force in Dad's footsteps, while Colin went on to college. Mom had begged Pape Matt to tell Dad about us so he could come see us graduate, but he wouldn't budge. Trish and I got married when we were nineteen and Colin and Steph got married when we were twenty.

"About that same time, Trish found out she was pregnant and when we told Mom, she was in a rush to find Dad. She didn't have his medical records anymore and we needed to make sure nothing would go wrong. Unfortunately, he'd just been transferred and Pape Matt didn't have his address or phone number yet. By the time Mom got the information, Dad was declared MIA. Four months later he was on the list of POW's that had been released from an Iraqi prison.

"Mom gave him another two months before trying to call him, but by that time there had been some complications and our son was born two and a half months early. Mom got so tied up with trying to help us that she just forgot about calling him again.

"Two months after he was born, our son was allowed to come home. We were scared to death to bring him home with us. We got to spend a month with him before he got bronchial pneumonia. We rushed him to the hospital, but it was too late. We lost him the same night. It turned out that the doctors had sent him home too early and we won a wrongful death suit against the hospital. It basically covered our hospital and funeral costs.

"The day after we lost our son, Mom went back home and found a message from Dad, asking her to call him back. She had completely forgotten that she'd done the same a month prior. She was originally going to tell him about us, but was too emotionally drained to. Then the right moment never came to bring it up.

"They stayed in constant contact after that, and two years later, when Dad lost his son, and consequently his wife, Mom flew down to be with him. Colin and I decided to visit our brother's grave and mourn for ourselves, without anyone knowing who we were. After that their contact seemed sporadic. It was a new assignment the Air Force had dragged him in for that had him out of the country constantly.

"Well, just recently I was transferred to the same facility Dad works in, Cheyenne Mountain, and Mom came down to help us get settled. The day after she arrived, Trish and I decided to tell her that Trish is pregnant again. Mom immediately picked up the phone and made flight reservations to go home and pick up the folder. She was going to take it to Dad, tell him all about us, and get his medical records before something happened to this baby, too. That was also the same flight that she was on when she died."

Unshed tears stung the back of Sean's eyes, while Trish openly wept. Jack didn't know what to do. He sat back, trying to understand all of what Sean had just told him. It didn't' make sense. He would know if he had had any children besides Charlie, wouldn't he? But Daniel's comment from earlier played over again in his mind.

He couldn't believe it. Why would his own parents lie to him? He couldn't deny, though, the startling accuracy with which Sean recounted the events. Pape Matt and Nan, that's what Charlie had always called them. Jack's eye's flashed with anger towards his parents. They had been in contact with their other grandsons and he had never even known they existed.

Sean saw the flash and for a moment thought it was directed at him, until the look softened and Jack spoke. "Can I see the folder?" he asked quietly.

Flipping through the files, he saw it was all there. The birth certificates, their blood types, even little hermetically sealed samples of their blood. He was startled to see that Karol had given the boys his last name. Among the formal papers he also noted that there were physical read-outs of their DNA for sample.

At the back of the folder, after the official forms and documents, was what looked like a homemade photo album. It was what had made the folder so thick in the first place. As he started flipping through it, Sean spoke up.

"At the end of every year, Mom would pick her four favorite photos and put them on a page for you."

The first picture was of Karol, sitting at a desk in a room Jack didn't recognize, writing.

When Sean saw what picture it was, he said, "That was the day Mom got settled into the place she was sent. Rick took it. He, uh, documented her pregnancy for you, and then our lives over the years."

The next few photos looked like they were each taken once a month to show her progress and how big she was getting. He got to the picture of Karol and the boys on the day they had been born and softly ran his fingers over it. He didn't cry, that wasn't like him, but he felt the emotions deep inside. The next two were the official first photos of Sean Michael and Colin James O'Neill.

The first coherent thought that ran through Jack's head was how much Charlie had looked like his brothers. The second he voiced quietly.

"I really am your father, aren't I?"

"Yeah," Sean said. "Now you see why I can't call you Jack? You've been Dad my whole life."

"Not that I doubt you, because I don't in the least, but we should really have everything checked out by the Doc in the morning."

Jack continued flipping through the folder until he saw both Sean and Colin's wedding photos. It hurt that he hadn't been there, but he couldn't change that. He'd learned long ago that it was futile to try to change the past. The next page was what seemed to be Sean and Trish, and very excited too. He figured that was when they'd found out about their son.

Just like with Karol, Rick had documented Trish's pregnancy as well. He saw how little she seemed to grow before the photo of the parents carefully cradling their son in the clean room. He was so incredibly tiny. Next to that was the official first photo of Charles Michael O'Neill.

"Tell me about him," Jack said softly. It'd just hit him, he'd had a grandson he'd never met and would never meet. It, like most everything else that was happening that evening, hurt more than he'd realized.

"Charlie was so small. I could fit him in the palm of my hand with his little legs hanging over my wrists. When he was first born, we sat with him twenty-four hours a day. The day he came home was the happiest and scariest day of our lives. I took a temporary leave of absence the day he was born and got to spend the entire month with Trish and Charlie. He had the most amazing smile. Rick managed to capture it on film a few times and we even got a few of them on tape. He was such a happy baby."

Sean wrapped an arm around his wife and brushed her tears away with his thumb. Jack had to smile at the simple gesture showing the love between the two.

"The night he got sick, we rushed him to the hospital. They put him into the NICU, but with his underdevelopment, it was too much for his little body. We found out he'd been released too soon."

Jack looked at the couple across from him, then down at the photos in his hands. He saw the smiling baby staring up at him.

"I wish I could have known him. He looks a lot like my Charlie." Jack's eyes turned wistful.

"That was part of why we named him Charlie, after the brother we never met, but had hoped to soon."

He finished looking through the photos. The last one had been taken the year before on what looked like a family vacation. Karol stood in the middle with Rick behind her and Kyle in front of her. Sean and Trish were on one side, Colin and Steph were on the other and next to Kyle stood another teenaged girl who looked to be about the same age as the young boy. They had all looked so happy.

Jack closed the folder and set it on the coffee table.

"I was sent a copy of the flight itinerary and where everybody was seated. Karol and Sara were next to each other."

The rest of the night was spent with mostly Jack filling them in on his life up to that point, except what was classified; he really didn't want to kill his new found son at all. At the end of the night, Jack felt like he'd never missed a moment of his son's life.

Jack walked them out to their car at around 2100. "Sean, we need to stop by the General's office in the morning. It isn't ethical for me to be your evaluating officer anymore. I'm scheduled to be at the base at 0730, we can stop by Doctor Fraiser's first, then head to the General."

"Sounds good, Dad." Jack stopped at Sean's words, taken aback slightly. "Yeah, that's still weird for you isn't it?"

"In a good way," he smiled at his son. "I'll see you tomorrow."

The couple got in their car and drove off, leaving Jack standing on his porch contemplating all he'd learned that day.

He headed inside deciding he needed to talk to somebody, and he had the perfect somebody in mind. Maybe tomorrow after he left the mountain.


	13. ch13

_A/N: Okay, i guess there was some confusion in ch. 11, and i m sorry for that. If you read it as a conversation, Daniel's calling their names then assigning their numbers. Adams is one, johnson two, sean 3 and yakavasi 4. Also, i'm sorry it might take me a little while to update i only have to ch. 18 written, and i've hit a major road block. i know where im going, but i don't quite know how to get there right now, so bear with me, sorry. and remember the summary does say "three" young men. we've only covered two. _

Jack was waiting on the surface when Sean met him right on time the next morning. He'd kept the folder Sean had given him the night before, and had spent most of the night studying the documents and photos inside.

"Ready to go see the Doc?" Jack asked in his normal light-hearted tone. The truth of the matter was their situation was anything but light-hearted and he knew it.

Sean nodded as they stepped into the elevator leading down into the mountain.

Entering the infirmary, Jack crept as quietly as possible to see how far he could get in before Janet noticed him. It was something he tended to do if the situation wasn't life or death. It was sort of his way of letting her know the severity of his visit.

"Stop right there, Colonel," Janet said without leaving the small area curtained off for some patient that just happened to be down there. Jack had barely made it three steps into the infirmary before she had noticed him.

With a smile, Jack stopped and turned to face Sean. "We'll just wait over here until you're done."

It took Janet all of about a minute to finish what she'd been doing and head over to where Jack and Sean were waiting for her.

"So, Colonel, what's this poor Lieutenant done?" she asked, approaching the two.

"Nothing. He met me at the top and I told him I had to stop here first. You still have all our DNA on record right?"

"Of course, sir." Jack didn't miss the confused look pass over her features and smiled.

"Good. I need you to get my printout."

Janet gave Jack a strange look, but quickly complied. When she returned he handed her the folder.

"I need you to compare the DNA for me." He glanced at Sean, nervously. He hadn't realized how much he wanted Janet to confirm all that he'd been told the previous night until it came right down to it.

It took all of about two minutes for Janet to see what was needed in the printouts. "Sir, I didn't know Charlie had a twin brother."

A grin broke out across Jack's face as Janet inadvertently answered all his questions. "He didn't. Doc, I'd like you to meet my son, Sean." He reached up and patted the young man on the shoulder.

Janet smiled at the twin grins that met her when she looked up. It was surprising that she hadn't noticed earlier how much the two looked alike. Anybody who didn't know the Colonel's history would know immediately that this young man was his son.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ma'am." Sean reached out his hand for her.

Janet took it and smiled, "Likewise."

"If you don't mind Janet, I'd like you to take your own samples and run the test, please." Now with a request that polite could Janet turn him down? Never!

Sean and Jack both rolled up their sleeves and exposed the insides of their arms for Janet and her needles. When she was done, both men stood.

"Thanks." Jack placed his hand on Sean's shoulder and the two walked out the door, leaving Janet shaking her head at the wonders that were Colonel O'Neill.


	14. ch14

14) Jack stood stock-still waiting for the General to answer his knock. He knew Sean couldn't tell how nervous he was. He'd trained himself early on to school his expression, keeping the others out of his head.

"Come!"

He quickly exchanged a look with Sean and led the young man into the base CO's office.

"Sir," Jack said walking into the room.

'_Aw, Hell, what's he gotten himself into this time?'_ General Hammond looked up into his 2IC's eyes and noticed what most people would never see. Colonel Jack O'Neill was at a loss for words.

"What can I help you with?"

Jack shoved his hands deep into his pockets and glanced over to Sean before speaking up.

"I don't think I'm fit to be the training officer anymore, Sir," Jack blatantly spoke out. He looked the General straight in the eye.

"Colonel?"

"It wouldn't be fair to the rest of the recruits."

"Oh? And why in Sam Hill would my foremost expert on military tactics, training exercises, and the only military officer on base to engage the enemy from the very beginning, be unfit to train the men and women we are hoping to send into the field against said enemy?" Hammond's voice escalated as he spoke, showing his frustration with the Colonel.

"If I continued as the evaluating officer, one of the trainees who don't make it through the exercises could claim favoritism." Jack was intentionally dragging the conversation out. Part of it was to ease his own nerves, the other was so his son could see the difference between the SGC and other commands he'd been under previously. His initial report was already in to the General, claiming Sean and trainee #1 should be looked at as either leaders of their own teams or as a temporary replacement for Carter.

"Colonel?" The General's temper was growing short at the Colonel's intentional bush beating.

"Lt. O'Neill here… is my son, Sir." For the first time that conversation Jack's eyes were grinning even though his face was still the stone cold façade he'd worn since he walked in.

"When did you come into this information?"

"Last night, after I'd already turned in my day's report. I'd already finished the initial evaluation of the recruits, Sir."

Hammond motioned for the two officers to take a seat across the desk from him. "While I think about this, let's talk off the record, Jack."

Jack smiled as he clapped his hand on Sean's shoulder. "George, this is my son, Sean. He has a twin brother, Colin who lives in Minnesota with his wife."

"My grandparents, both sides, never let my father know about us. It was difficult for my mother for a long time. She finally got into a position to tell him, but the situation changed and it just didn't come up." George noticed the Lieutenant sat stiff in his chair.

"Relax, Sean. This is all off the record. Just three men sitting around talking." Jack knew his son wasn't used to the lax atmosphere of the SGC.

"Right, Dad, sorry." Hammond smiled at the sheepish look on Sean's face.

"Well, Sean. I'm truly sorry you have to be related to Jack. It's going to be hard on you all," Hammond joked. "So what prompted you to track Jack down after so long?"

"First it was due to the impending birth of my son. We wanted to make sure there was nothing medical that could harm him. When," Sean stuttered slightly, "Charlie died the timing just never seemed right. Then the other Charlie… and Mom didn't want to hurt him any more than he was already. We thought it was a good idea when I got transferred here to tell him, and Rick gave me all I needed after Mom died. We need his medical records again as well."

Jack gave Sean's shoulder a squeeze, and said, "Sean, maybe you should wait for me in the commissary, I'll be along shortly."

Sean stood and nodded first to his father, then to the General. "Sir, thank you." He turned and left the room, heading towards the commissary for breakfast.

Jack turned back to Hammond, smiling as his son left.

"The other Charlie?" Hammond questioned. "You didn't tell him about…"

"No, sir. His son's name was Charlie. He died when he was three months old. Karol and I were back in contact before my Charlie died and I guess she was going to tell me about Sean and Colin, but didn't get around to it before the accident." Jack's eyes dropped, thinking about his sons. He'd missed the beginning of the twins' lives, and he was missing what should have been the rest of Charlie's.

"Colonel, are you certain the Lieutenant is your son?" the General asked his 2IC.

"Yessir," Jack said handing the folder Sean had given him the night before to Hammond. "All the documentation's in there and Doc Fraiser has already compared our DNA. She's running her own tests just to be sure, though. There are photos in the back, including a few with my parents."

"I thought this information was kept from you?"

"Ah, the kicker. Yes, it was, but apparently my father took it upon himself to keep Karol informed of my life, what I was doing, where I was living." Hammond perused the file while the Colonel was talking, nodding his acknowledgment of what was being said.

"In light of recent information, the training exercises should be put off for now until a suitable evaluating officer can be found," Hammond said, an air of finality in his tone. He reached over and pulled another folder from the corner of his desk. "On a different note, I think you should look over this and take the necessary actions. Dismissed." Hammond handed Jack the folders. The younger man took them and left.


	15. ch15

_A/N: Okay nother chapter, please r and r!_

Jack entered the commissary, scanning the crowd for Sean. He hadn't been that far behind the young man, but he wasn't that good at finding him just yet. It was still a little hard to recognize him if it wasn't up close. The waving figure in the far corner pointed him where he needed to be. Grabbing a bowl of Froot Loops from the counter he headed to where Sean waited for him.

"What do you think of the facility so far?" Jack asked, sitting down across from him.

"It's, um, interesting. What I've seen of it." Sean shoveled his own Froot Loops into his mouth and rested his spoon on the side of the bowl.

"You'll get to see more of it eventually. One of you trainees will be picked to head up a new team. There's a possibility that if I like one of you, someone may be the replacement for Major Carter. I was going to announce this before the simulations started for today, but General Hammond called them off until we can find a new evaluating officer."

"Who's gonna be running our training now?" Sean asked, worried that their whole system would be messed up because of him.

"I'm still your training officer, but we need someone else to watch and evaluate. The only other Colonel on base is Makepeace and he's a Marine. How do you think the other recruits would react to a female eval. Off.?"

Sean thought for a moment before answering, "I don't think they'd take it too well."

A broad grin broke out across Jack's face. "Perfect."

"Perfect?"

"Yeah, perfect. I was keeping a close eye on everybody yesterday. Some will try to show off, some will try to walk all over her and just a couple will do what they're supposed to be doing. I think I have the perfect officer in mind." With that, Jack stood, leaving Sean to ponder what exactly was going on.


	16. ch16

_A/N: Okay i decided to give you two tonight cuz i don't think i'll be able to until wedn. so enjoy!_

Jack still wasn't quite sure how he was going to handle this situation, but he needed someone else's opinion. Heh, that was amusing. Jack O'Neill needing help from someone. Sara would have laughed at that. Would have, if she was still alive. She probably would have been able to help him out with Sean.

Sean, ah yes, back to his current problem. Well, he couldn't really ask or talk to Teal'c. Yeah, Teal'c was a great guy, but this was just something he didn't really think he could bring up with the stoic Jaffa. Nor could he talk to Sam. Not with what he had planned anyway. Of course after the next few weeks were over, he'd probably tell her. Yeah, especially after he'd been given the file by Hammond.

"Knock, knock, Danny boy!" Jack said, rapping on the door frame. He entered the room and sat across the desk from the preoccupied archeologist.

"Oh, uh, hi, Jack. What are you doing here? Besides fiddling with the tablet from P7C-090." Daniel sighed and let his notes fall to the desk.

"Training simulation's cancelled until we can find a new evaluating officer."

"What? Why?"

Jack threw the folder Sean had given him the night before across the desk to Daniel and leaned back. It was always easier to just show someone. "You were closer to the mark than I thought you were."

Daniel flipped open the folder and started rifling through the documents. The photos were what really convinced him, just like with Jack. "Um, Jack, you didn't know about them?"

"Not a clue. My parents knew though."

Daniel started studying the photos of the boys later in life. He stopped when he reached the picture of Sean and Trish in the hospital with their baby boy. "A grandchild, Jack?"

"He, uh, died, six years ago. He was three months old."

"Oh, sorry."

"Yeah, well, I never got to meet him." Jack leaned back in his chair and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Who's taking over the evaluation?" Daniel asked, his curiosity taking control.

"I'll still be the training officer, but Makepeace is the only other Colonel on base right now. Jarheads can't evaluate Air Force officers, so we've been given permission to look into the lower ranks. Here's my idea." Jack handed over the other file as Daniel closed the folder on Sean and Colin. He picked up the other folder and paled at the sight of the first page.

"She's not going to like this," he said, leafing through the rest of it.

"Ya think? God, Danny, I knew this was a possibility, but she's young, and healthy. This is the sort of thing that takes down an old fogy like me. She should have been able to recover from this." Jack slammed his hand down on the desk and stood up angrily. "I figure I can give her three more weeks before she's officially discharged. Hammond's gonna bring her on as a civilian scientist when she's able to come back."

Daniel just nodded, still too shocked to speak.

"I'll be in my office the rest of the day. The recruits are wandering the base, if any of them are looking for me." Jack grabbed the two folders from the desk and left just as quickly as he'd arrived.

_A/N: sorry to just leave you at a cliffie, i just realized that. please r and r._


	17. ch17

Jack didn't get much paperwork done that day, but then again when did he ever. He was just too preoccupied with how he was going to break it to Carter that she was no longer in the Air Force after she was done evaluating the new troops. That was, _if_ she accepted the assignment. If not, she would be discharged the moment he gave her the file.

Deciding it was better to leave early, he closed up his office and headed up to the surface. He was distracted the entire way home, which would have been nice, had he actually made it home. He looked over from where he'd pulled his truck into the driveway and noticed himself outside Carter's house.

He didn't know exactly how he got there. Well, okay he knew how to get to Carter's house, he just didn't remember driving there. It was better to get this over with now anyway.

He still wasn't sure what he was going to say, and was certain he wasn't the best for this job. He'd always been short on subtlety_. 'Sorry Carter, you're discharged, but you're the new eval. Officer, 'cause, hey, my kid's one of the troops.'_ Yeah, that'd go real well.

He grabbed the file off the seat next to him and headed towards the front door, after deciding it would be best just to wing it.

_A/N: Okay this time i did do it on purpose, but hey, if i get enough reviews maybe i'll post the next chapter tonight! Thanks for the encouragement!_


	18. ch18

For the first time since her accident, Sam was letting herself relax. She was lying on the couch, her knee propped up for support, with Rico lying beside her. She'd gone back to the base yesterday for more tests on her knee, but she knew it wasn't looking good. Janet had tried to be reassuring. Some of the tests would take longer than others, so they'd sent her home and told her they'd call when they had more information for her.

After her visit in the infirmary, she stopped in the security room to check on her team. She knew they were training the "Greenies" at the moment, and it had hurt to watch them do it without her. She was going to have to get used to that though. She didn't think she would be going back through the Gate anytime soon, if ever again.

Sam sighed and rested her hand on Rico's back. She was really grateful for the dog. He'd helped her around so much already, especially when she'd still been stuck in that wheelchair. It was funny, after a month, he could almost anticipate what she'd ask him to do next. If she ever found who'd given him to her, she knew she'd have to do more than just thank him. Of course, she'd have to _see_ him again, and he hadn't been around for over three weeks.

A knock at the door broke her of her thoughts, and caused Rico to sit up straight. He cocked his head to the side as if he was trying to figure out what was going on. Suddenly, he jumped up and bounded for the door.

"Rico! Get back here!" Sam shouted for the dog. She didn't know who was on the other side and she didn't want the dog opening the door to a stranger.

He gave her a confused look, like he wasn't sure why he wasn't supposed to open the door. _He_ knew what that knock meant.

That's when she heard it. The knock was sounding more like Morse Code than a regular knock on her front door. R-I-C-O, yup, Morse Code.

Rico didn't stutter again and immediately opened the door, his tail wagging furiously. That was usually a sign that he knew the person, but Sam hadn't heard anyone knock like that yet.

The voice Sam could hear from her spot on the couch, nearly made her heart skip a beat. "How you doin' there, Pup? You takin' good care of her?"

"Uh, Colonel, Sir, what are you doing here? Please come in." Sam made to get up off the couch, but stopped at his wave to stay put. He closed the door and came to sit opposite of her in the living room.

"I would have stopped by sooner, but I just got back in the other day." He stopped then looking almost… nervous? Sam knew it had to be her imagination. Jack O'Neill never got nervous. He handed her the file he'd had tucked under his arm when he'd come in. "Sorry, Carter," he barely whispered.

She knew what it was immediately, and tried to force the tears back. She'd tried to prepare for this day, tried to make herself believe that it was coming sooner or later, but that still hadn't helped. The only thing that confused her was how thick the folder was.

"Listen, we need a new eval. Officer, conflict of interest with the current one, and you are the next most qualified for the job." Jack sat forward, tapping his fingers on the arms of the chair.

"Aren't _you_ the current eval. Officer?"

"Yes."

"So what's the problem, Sir?"

"I can't tell you, not yet anyway. If you want the assignment, you get three more weeks in the military before your discharge is official, with another notch in your belt. If not, Hammond wants you back as a civilian after Janet clears you to be on your feet for that long."

"How long to I have to think about it?" Sam asked. She wasn't quite ready to make this decision.

"Preferably until tomorrow."

"You'll have an answer by 1200."

The two sat in silence, not really sure where to go next. Whether she took the job or not, he was no longer her CO, and that scared her. He was an attractive man, she'd give him that much, and ever since that first day, she'd grown to like him more and more. They'd gotten closer together in the past three years. The whole team had really, but they were sometimes dancing a little close to the line.

She knew it had to be one sided, especially now that she was receiving a medical discharge. She was a cripple, even if she did learn to walk without a cane eventually.

In the silence, the reality finally hit her, and this time she couldn't hold back the tears flooding her eyes.

Jack jumped across to kneel beside the couch. "Hey, Sam, it'll be okay. Shhh." He brushed her hair out of her face and gently wiped the tear tracks from her cheeks. Rico, sensing Sam's distress, stuck his nose under her hand and wuffled, his soulful brown eyes looking comfortingly up at her.

If she hadn't been so upset, she would have noticed Jack's slip of her name. As it was, she felt comforted by his closeness.

"Sorry, Sir," Sam said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"It's Jack. And there's nothing to be sorry for." He gave a soft smile before moving to sit on the edge of the couch. "How are you doing with all this?"

"Considering I was just discharged from the Air Force? It's been hard. Sara was the only friend I had outside the program. I guess Rico's it now," she shrugged.

"So, you've made up your mind?"

Sam looked back at him confused. "What do you mean?"

"If you take the assignment, you won't be discharged for another three weeks. You've made up your mind not to take the job." He was still rubbing her arm to comfort her.

"I'm sorry, I'm just a little confused still."

"No problem," Jack said, standing up. "Listen, it's getting late, how about I make you something for dinner?"

"Okay. Rico, go with Jack." She smiled at the ease at which his name had rolled off her tongue. She'd never before let herself even think of him as Jack. That was dangerous ground she hadn't wanted to walk. Now, though, the ground had stabilized, even if just a little.

"Shouldn't he stay in there with you?" Jack asked as the dog followed him into the kitchen.

Sam grabbed her crutches from the floor next to the couch and stood shakily. She slowly made her way into the kitchen and sat at the small island built into the center. "I'm in here. Anyways, he knows where everything is in here so I figured he could show you."

"Right. So what do you want to eat? I can make anything you have the stuff for right here." Jack leaned against the island and looked straight into her eyes.

"How 'bout grilled cheese and tomato soup?"

"That it is!"

_A/N: so how'dya like? you're catching up with where ihave written so it might be a little while before i update again. please r & r._


	19. ch19

"So, I see you've decided to accept the assignment," Jack said, sitting down next to Sam and Rico in the commissary the next morning. He'd noticed a rental with the red temporary handicap tag hanging from the rearview mirror, and figured it had to be her.

"I'm getting you out of a bind, Sir," she smiled up at him from her plate of toast.

"That you are, Carter." He threw a sausage down to the dog and ruffled the top of his head. "What'd Hammond have to say about Rico being in the building?"

"Doesn't have a choice, but he likes him and Rico's well behaved, so he doesn't really mind. So, sir, could you fill me in on how the Greenies did Monday?"

"Watch 1 and 3 carefully, I think they have the most potential. 4, 5, and 8 will probably be your average team members. 2, 6, and 7 I don't think will make it past the first week, but I'd switch them all up, see how well they do in other positions. I brought my reports over for you. I hope they help."

"You finished a report, Sir? I'm impressed."

"Very funny, Carter." Jack smiled and shoved a spoonful of Froot Loops in his mouth.

"I thought this was supposed to be run a few weeks ago, Sir?" She took a bite of her toast and leaned back in her chair. Rico laid his head on her lap, the confusion of the base setting him on high alert.

"One of the Lieutenants had a parent in the plane crash. We held it off for him." Sam immediately noticed his voice lost the jovial tone it'd been carrying from the moment he'd walked in the commissary. Obviously, he was still mourning the loss of Sara and the other woman he'd known.

"Oh. Well, I should probably get to my office and look over your reports, Sir." She stood up and handed the folders down to Rico, who took him gently in his mouth. She picked up her crutches and made her way out of the commissary.

_A/N: Okay, here's the only one you'll be getting today._


	20. ch20

"Alright campers, we have a new Eval. Officer, Major Samantha Carter. She is one of the best officers on this base. She will judge you fairly and equally. Now, lets get to work."

The simulations ran smoothly for the rest of the day. Each exercise only confirmed what Jack had seen in each of the recruits earlier. He put Adams and Sean in positions of leadership each, and both proved their worth to the SGC.

"What do you think, Carter?" Jack asked as he entered her lab on his way out of the mountain.

"I agree with your initial assessment, but I'd have to watch them more before I made any decisions. 1's your best bet for a new team leader, though. He can lead, but he willingly listens to what the others have to say. 3 is good, too, but he's the only recruit with a scientific background. He'd be better off on SG-1." Sam set the folders on her desk and rubbed her eyes. This had been her first day back, and while all she'd done was watch the exercises, it was more than she'd done in almost a month and it'd tired her out more than she thought it would have.

"How'd you do that? You were only given their numbers."

"I asked the General for their educational backgrounds. Don't worry, Sir, all references to their names were replaced by their numbers in the files I was given."

"Oh." Jack picked up a… something that was sitting on Sam's desk. It'd probably been their since before their last mission. He didn't know what it was, and if it wasn't a huge, honkin' space gun, it didn't matter.

"Sir, could you put that down, please?"

"Right, sorry, Carter." He set it back down on the desk and leaned forward, obviously one of his many bored postures.

"Can I help you with anything, sir?"

"I, uh, noticed you had a rental today. I know your car is standard, so why don't I save you money and you can grab a ride with me until your knee is healed?" he suggested cautiously.

"Sure, Sir. Rico won't ruin the interior of your truck, will he?"

"Nah, he didn…" Jack caught himself before he finished what he was saying.

"Ha, I knew it!" Sam shouted, ecstatically. "Sir," she added almost as an afterthought. "Thank you. He's been a big help."

"How'd you figure it out?" Jack just stared at her.

"I talked to Daniel before the training exercises. He told me he hasn't mentioned Rico to you, but when you came over he knew you, and well you did say you trained him to recognize the knocks. It wasn't really all that hard, sir." Sam gave him one of her kilowatt smiles.

"Right, genius, I forgot." Jack rolled his eyes playfully, then stared at her, watching her going through her evaluations. She took it seriously, as he knew she would. _God, she is so beautiful._ "Hey, how 'bout some dinner?"

"Rico and I were going to head home and do pizza," she answered without looking up at him.

"Pizza it is then. C'mon, you've gotta be exhausted." Jack stood and handed her, her crutches.

"Well, it will give me a chance to pick your brain, see what you know about the recruits." She smiled up at him and took her crutches, ready to head out. She handed the files down to Rico and followed Jack out, locking up the lab.

"I'll call in the pizza and pick it up on my way to your place," Jack said as they reached the surface.

"Sounds good." Sam climbed in the car while Jack held the door open for Rico.

"See you later." Jack closed the door and walked off to his truck. Yeah, he was falling, and hard, too.

He watched her drive off, thinking of how comfortable they'd gotten since yesterday. It was like a complete change for them. They'd always danced around it, playing close to the line, like a child whose parents had told him not to leave the yard. Trying to see how far they could go without crossing the line.

_A/N: Okay, my fiance just went to NYC for the weekend and i don't really trust the computer at the house im living in, so i probably won't update again until he comes home or monday. Also, i'm kinda havin some trouble gettin' this story to where i want it, and i was wondering if i should just stick w/ the 2 sons for now and Sean's involvment in theSGC and bring in the other one in a sequel or what? i'd really appreciate some input. You can email me if you don't want to write it in review. thanks again!_


	21. ch21

The drive to Sam's was spent thinking about the progression of their "relationship" over the past two and a half years.

He'd thought her attitude spunky when they'd first met and had readily told her the truth when he'd said he adored her already. He'd felt an immediate attraction to Sam the moment she'd started to go FemiNazi on him during their first briefing, but had dismissed it as loneliness.

He and Sara had only been divorced for a little less than a year at that point and after ten years of being with the same woman every day and night, he'd missed that stability in his life. He'd missed Sara. He would always miss Sara. He'd held on to that little piece inside that had told him they were still friends and that was the best he could ask for. He loved knowing she could go to him if she needed someone to listen, which had started after the crystal entity had shown up. Unfortunately, it had only lasted a couple weeks before she started talking to Sam more and more.

Sara and Sam's friendship had been awkward for him at first. He didn't know how to react around either of them. Sara, though she'd known pretty much everything about him anyway, now knew things about Jack he'd always kept pretty much hidden. As a result of being under his command, Sam could read him better than anyone else. Sam, on the other hand, now knew things he didn't think any 2IC should know about their CO. Okay, maybe if she'd been a he, but that almost made the situation more awkward.

He'd seen some of the light finally return to Sara's eyes over the almost two years she'd been friends with Sam. She had someone to talk to who hadn't been there, but understood, knew loss, but didn't try to console, and who talked but didn't pity. Sam was what Sara had needed. Greg, too, but he had a different role in her life, and while she needed him just as much, there were things he knew she would be more comfortable talking to another woman about.

He knew some of the things they talked about, both Sara and Sam talked to him. Sam, mostly if she didn't know what to tell Sara, would sometimes ask his opinion on something. They never said they were mentioning the other but he figured it out. Of course, Sam only talked to him if she really thought it was important. He always figured it was her feeling uncomfortable around him. He wasn't so sure anymore.

It had been good for Sam to have a friend like Sara. He'd noticed the change in her so fast it was almost as if she'd changed overnight. Her father's curtness with her after the interrupted medal ceremony had hit her hard, but she'd been able to talk to Sara. He'd later found out from Sara that she'd also just found out that Jacob had cancer. He'd never felt happier that Sam and Sara had a good friendship than then.

On the Charlie days Sam had been there for both of them. For him, she would simply understand his moods, put up with his abruptness and silence, but for Sara she'd be there to talk and to listen. That was what she'd needed. And Sara was there on the day of Sam's mother's death, being a friend.

He noticed how extremely different Sam's friendship with Sara was over her friendship with Fraiser. The friendships had the same intenseness. If anyone ever tried to ask Sam who was the better friend or which one was her best, she'd not be able to choose between the two. They were just different, although he'd known the three of them to get together on occasion.

Jack picked up the pizzas and got back in his truck, still debating the turns in both his and Sam's personal and professional relationship.

Of course, he and Sam had gotten closer as well. He silently thanked Sara for that. Though he'd never been able to open up to her, a fact he still felt guilty for, Sara had helped him grow out of his melancholy and how to trust other people more. Daniel had been the first to learn of Charlie, on that first mission to Abydos. Surprisingly enough, when he found out Sam had been told about Charlie during the thing with that crystal entity, he hadn't been too upset.

He and Sam had grown, as "brothers" in arms and as friends since the institution of the SGC. She'd proven herself as a soldier their first mission together and had continued to amaze him on a daily basis.

He knew he'd been harboring feelings for her for a while. He liked her, a lot, and he was pretty sure she felt at least somewhat of an attraction to him as well. Why else would she have spent all that time trying to get him off Edora? She had been doing her job, but really she had gone above and beyond the call of duty. He still felt awful for the way he had treated her then. He'd never thanked her for what she did.

They hadn't caught a break yet, either. Immediately after that he'd gone undercover to break up the NID's little smuggling ring, and said some things he'd definitely regretted. He could still see the look in her eyes after he'd shouted at her. He still hadn't apologized for that.

Of course their very next mission just had to be the one she got hurt on. Then to top it all of, they'd found out about Sara and Karol upon their return. He just wanted one chance to tell her how sorry he was, and to thank her for bringing him home.

There were other things they needed to discuss. He wanted to see what feelings he really had for her. He wanted to talk to her, find out if she felt anything for him. He'd remembered what it was like when she wouldn't leave Cassie to die alone, how his heart clenched when he thought he'd lose her. He had to know where they stood.

_A/N: Okay, how'd you like? I don't know when i'll get the next chapter up, b/c this is really getting close to the chapters that i have written and pretty soon you'll catch up, then you;ll have to wait forever for me to complete a chapter. sorry, and thanks!_


	22. ch22

Knock, Knock Knock-knock knock, Bark! Bark!

Jack smiled hearing Rico's answering bark. He would never admit it to anybody, but he _had_ missed having the dog around. Rico opened the door for him, and he stepped in, setting the pizzas on the coffee table in the living room.

Sam came in from the direction of the bedroom, dressed in what he thought looked like her pajamas. He lifted his eyebrow at her as she flopped down on the couch and placed her crutches on the floor.

She looked up at him, shrugged and said, "It's just easier for me to change as soon as I get home." Rico came over to inspect her and make sure she was all right. "Rico, beer."

Jack sat down on the couch next to Sam and opened the pizza box, grabbing a piece specifically for Sam. He placed it on a paper plate and handed it to her.

"Thanks."

Jack took the beer bottle from Rico's mouth and set it on the small table. "Aren't you going to drink anything?"

"When we're done eating, Sir-er Jack."

Rico stared up at Jack, waiting for his piece of pizza, which was never to come, and whined. "Lay down, Pup." Rico dropped his eyes, looking ashamed and laid down at Jack's feet.

"Jack, again, thank you for Rico. He isn't exactly a puppy, where'd you get him?" Sam asked, biting into her slice.

Jack stopped and put his pizza down. She was a genius, of course she'd ask eventually. He steeled himself for a moment and looked straight into her eyes.

"He was Charlie's. Two weeks before he died, we had a fight about toy guns, and he ran off to his room. Pretty much ignored me for the rest of the day. At dinner that night, he started complaining that his stomach hurt, but I thought he was trying to get out of eating dinner with me. It was Sara who realized something wasn't right. We rushed him to the hospital only to find out he was having a problem with his appendix. When he came home from the hospital, we had Rico waiting for him. He _was_ just a puppy then, and could fit in Charlie's arms."

His eyes dropped to the dog on the floor, his last connection to his son.

"When Sara and I divorced I gave her Rico, at first because I couldn't handle having him around. Later I was glad I did. He helped her out more than I could have. Greg couldn't keep him, besides he knew I'd probably want him. When Janet gave me her first report on your knee, I knew it was the perfect opportunity for him to put into practice all the training Sara'd been giving him."

Sam scooted closer to Jack and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you, so much," she whispered into his neck.

"You're welcome. I'm glad he's been such a help to you." Jack smiled softly and pulled her into a tighter hug.

Sam pulled away gently and smiled up at him. "So, what can you tell me about our recruits?"

"Other than what I've already said, nothing. I'm not allowed to say anything about one recruit and if I say something about all the others, you'll know who it is and figure out what's going on immediately."

Jack threw her a crooked grin, still keeping one arm around her shoulders. Sam didn't mind, of course. Had their situation been different, both of them would be feeling awkward right now, but nothing would happen to them now.

"Don't worry, I'll tell you when this is all over."

Sam nodded and went back to her pizza, but she noticed Jack still looked apprehensive.

"Jack, are you okay?" Before she could even think, his lips were on hers, softly, nervously, and then he pulled back.

Sam cocked her head to the side. "Jack?"

"I'm sorry. I, uh, well, I wanted to talk to you, and, uh…" He rubbed the heels of his hands furiously into his eyes and stood up. "Oh, for cryin' out loud! I care for you, Sam. A lot. Well, a lot more than I'm supposed to."

He flopped back down on the couch, frustrated with himself.

"I know you don't feel the same, and that's not why I gave you Rico or anything…"

"Jack."

"And I know I've been an ass to you lately…"

"Jack."

"And I never told you thank you, for getting me off that planet…"

"Jack!"

"Huh?" He whipped his head around, staring wide eyed at a smiling Sam.

"Shut up." She grinned at him and leaned in, capturing his lips with her own. It was his turn to be caught off guard. He quickly recovered and started kissing her back. They broke apart reluctantly and smiled at each other.

"Can I say something quickly?" Sam nodded, wondering if it had something to do with his previous line of thought.

"Thank you, for getting me off Edora. I'm sorry I didn't say it sooner, I was an ass and didn't realize just what you went through to get me home, until Janet started jabbing me and Daniel ripped me a new one."

He smiled softly and continued. "And I'm sorry for what I said before. But it's true, I haven't been the same since I met you. I've been better." He dropped a sweet kiss to the tip of her nose, and she smiled in return.

Jack kept one arm around her shoulders and reached for his pizza. This was definitely going a lot better than he'd thought it would, though he still didn't know for sure where they stood.

"Sam, I'd really like to see where this goes."

"But?"

"I can't tell you anything about what's going on right now, and I don't really think that's fair."

Sam could see the sincerity in his eyes when he looked down at her, making her insides go to mush. "It's no big deal. I can't be that big, right?"

"It's fairly major, Sam."

"Well, we'll handle it together. Jack, I've liked you from the beginning and the more I've gotten to know you, the more I've come to care for you. There're a lot of things you can't tell me, I'll just accept this as one of them." The smile Sam gave him made his heart flutter.

"How are you handling this?" he asked, sincerely.

"It's harder to get through some days than others. Rico helps out, drags me out of bed in the morning."

Jack smiled in remembrance.

"Yeah, he used to do that for me, too. He couldn't get up on the bed back then, but he sure could yowl."

The two of them relaxed against the back of the couch, their fill of the pizza finished. The rest of the night was spent making idle chit-chat, trying to avoid any talk of work, and getting to know each other better.

Jack noticed Sam growing tired long before she realized it herself. When she finally dropped off against his shoulder around 2200, he carried her up to her bedroom. He laid her on her bed and pulled the covers up to chin, giving her a soft kiss on the forehead.

"Stay." He barely heard the whisper and had he not been already so close to her, he would have missed it.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course." Sam lifted her head and kissed him gently and pulled him to her.

Jack stripped down to his boxers and climbed into the bed next to her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her tight against his chest. He nuzzled up to her and let her soft breathing lull him to sleep.

_A/N: Okay, so how did you like it? Did i do okay? Please let me know, i really wanna hear what you have to say._


	23. ch23

Jack awoke to an empty bed, and a dog panting in his face from the floor. He rolled over and sighed remembering where he was. Last night had been wonderful, even if they hadn't done anything. He just wished he'd woken up before Sam. He usually did when they were off world, but at home he tended to be a heavier sleeper than she.

Rico gave a strangled bark from the floor and wagged his tail, wanting to go outside. Jack rolled out of bed and threw on his pants. He could hear the shower running and knew Sam shouldn't be left alone just yet, so he let the dog out the door from Sam's bedroom that led to the backyard.

Jack took the opportunity while Sam was preoccupied to phone Sean and ask him to meet him in his office at 1000 that morning. There was something about their conversation a few nights earlier that had been bothering him to no end. He wasn't exactly sure what Sean had been told about his mother, so he couldn't be certain if there was something else going on or not.

The sound of the shower turning off brought him out of his reverie just as he was hanging up the phone. Jack got up, walked over to the bathroom door and knocked.

"Hey, you need any help in there?" he called out.

"Nah, you can just send Rico in." Jack laughed and looked out the window at Rico in the backyard.

"Um, he's just a little preoccupied at the moment." He knew she could hear the laughter in his voice and hoped she didn't think he was being a little presumptuous.

"I laid some clothes on the end of the bed. He normally just brings them to me when I ask for them. You could do the same."

"Um, are you sure about that?" As much as Jack would have loved to see her naked, he was sure it would do things to him they really didn't need to be dealing with right now.

"What's the matter O'Neill, never seen a naked woman before?" she laughed from the other side of the door.

"Oh yeah, just never one I've fantasized about," he joked back as he opened the door with her clothes in hand.

"You know, I still have that 'sweet little tank-top number' if you'd prefer." His heart nearly stopped at the sight of her smiling, sitting in the bathroom, waiting for him to hand her, her clothes. He noticed the complicated brace lying on the floor near the sink, and the four red, circular wounds indicating the recent surgeries she'd been through to try to repair the damage to her knee.

He grew serious as he stepped further into the bathroom and handed her her clothes. "Does it hurt?"

"Huh?" Sam looked up into his eyes and followed his gaze to her knee. "Oh, not really anymore. Dad came in to see what he could do, but mostly all we accomplished was taking away the pain. It's stiff and weak most days, but that's all."

"I don't get it," he sighed, sitting on the edge of the tub. "All you did was twist your knee, how'd it get this bad?"

"It wasn't the initial injury that destroyed my knee. That could have been repaired had I not been such a pigheaded fool and insisted I walk back to the 'Gate." He could tell she'd been thinking this since the accident and needed to finally say it out loud so she could finally get past it. "When I fell, the ligaments snapped and pulled apart and the kneecap was just kind of floating. The walk back ground against the kneecap and eventually, right before we stepped through, it shattered. The largest piece was about the size of an eraser from the end of a pencil."

"Dad couldn't do anything?"

"The healing device is great when a bone's broken, someone's poisoned, or sick, but it can't grow a whole new bone. A specialist came in and gave me a new kneecap a week and a half ago." Sam had been pulling on her clothes as she talked, trying, and failing, to act as if everything was okay.

"I'm sorry, Sam." Jack leaned forward from his spot on the edge of the tub and wrapped his arms around her waist. She leaned her head back against his shoulder and turned her face into his neck. "I'm sorry for not being here the past three weeks. I was off wallowing in self pity when you needed me."

"You were grieving, Jack. You needed time. Daniel told me about Karol…"

Jack stiffened, wondering exactly what she'd been told. No, Daniel wouldn't tell her anything. He knew the reasons Jack couldn't be the eval. Officer anymore.

"… how you knew someone else in the crash. Nobody expected you to stick around."

He heaved an internal sigh and relaxed against Sam, pulling her closer to him. He didn't have anything to worry about, she didn't know about the boys. He wanted to tell her right then and there, but held back knowing the headache it would cause if he did. She already said she understood about what was going on. He just had to hold off until the training was over, then he could tell her. Right now, though, he had something else he wanted to discuss.

"Sam, I think we need to talk about us." He felt her stiffen and gave her a gentle squeeze to hopefully relax her. "Hey don't worry."

He helped her sit up and get the brace back on her knee, then went and let Rico in the house. He figured this was more of a breakfast discussion anyway, and started preparing bacon and eggs. Sam hobbled in a moment later and sat at the island in the middle of her kitchen.

Jack set the plate before her and sat across from her. "I didn't mean to scare you back there," he apologized taking a bite of his breakfast. "I want to hold off on telling anybody about us until after you're done evaluating the new officers. I don't want anybody to be able to come back and claim you were playing favorites. As soon as you're finished Hammond's going to ask you to sign some papers saying you knew nothing when you turned in your reports."

"I don't see that as a problem."

"Okay. Now eat up, we have to get to the base."

_A/N: okay, i'm almost done with ch. 25. after that it will probably take me a little longer to update, but i'll do it as soon as i get chapters finished. Thanks for all the reviews!_


	24. ch24

Jack was just finishing up his "lesson plans" for the training sessions that day when there was a knock on his office door. Normally, he would have been writing his reports in the commissary over cake and jell-o, but he'd told Sean to come see him and it wouldn't do to make his son come looking for him.

"Come," he said just loud enough for whoever was on the other side of the door would hear.

The door opened and allowed Sean and another to enter Jack's office. He immediately recognized the man with his son as recruit #1, Lt. Adams. Of course he hadn't learned the man's name until he'd been relieved as the evaluating officer.

"Sean," he said, nodding to his son. "Lt. Adams, what brings you here?"

"General Hammond ordered we stay in pairs at all times, sir." He shifted from foot to foot, nervously.

"Please, sit down, you guys are making me nervous." Jack motioned to the seats across his desk. The two sat down, though Lt. Adams was noticeably fidgety.

"Sean, something's been bothering me since the other night, but before I can say anything, we need to figure out what to do with Lt. Adams here." Jack was purposely looking disapproving, while the young man fidgeted in front of him, his face hid anything he might have been feeling and Jack knew he was already picking up on what _he_ thought a good leader needed.

"Relax Adams, it's nothing serious, to you."

"I've known him since I joined up, I trust him to know you're being fair."

Adams looked between the two, confused about what they would be talking about.

Jack gave a nod to Sean and leaned back in his chair. Sean nodded back and cleared his throat before speaking. "This is Jackson Adams. Jack, this is Colonel Jonathan O'Neill, my dad."

"I thought you said you'd never met your dad?" Adams threw the two a skeptical look, not sure whether to believe them or not. The smirk on Sean's face and the, well, odd look in the Colonel's eyes told him it was no joke.

"I hadn't until Monday." Sean swallowed nervously. "Um, was there a reason you called me in here, Dad?"

"Yeah, there's something that's been bothering me. You told me your mom called me up right after your Charlie died, but we've been writing back and forth for a few months prior. I've got pictures of you guys."

"Poppy Matt called last night to check on all of us. I told him about everything and he told me that…" Sean paused, heaving a sigh. "That Nan's been intercepting your letters. She's been the one you've been talking to."

"You're kidding, right? My own mother?" Jack flopped back into his chair and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "This is crazy."

"I'm sorry, Dad, I didn't know any of this when we came over the other night." Sean's eyes dropped sadly.

"Hey, none of this is your fault, or Colin's, or your mother's. It's your idiotic grandparents I need to have a talk with. We'll see what Hammond can give us once your training's over."

Jack leaned forward and rested his head on his hands, staring at his son.

"We should probably let you get back to work." Sean nodded and stood up. Jack stood with him and held out his hand to the men.

"See you in a few. And Adams, remember we will be fair in everything."

_A/N: Okay, the moment i've been dreading since i started posting this story has come. I finished ch. 25, but 26 is just started so once i post 25, postings will be far and few between. (Yes i know i said that bass ackwards, it's just a saying lol)_


	25. ch25

Jack stood in front of the four officers in front of him, taking in their every appearance as the stood at attention in front of the warehouse they'd been training in. Numbers two, four, six and seven had all been weeded out already, leaving Adams, O'Neill, Baker, and Zillner as the remaining trainees. Sam was observing them from the security room in the SGC at the moment through a live video feed. She needed to see how they would react to their final test, though none of them knew that's what it was.

A black car pulled up behind Jack and a man in full dress blues stepped out, calling the Colonel over.

"Hey, whaddya think's goin' on?" Adams leaned over and whispered into Sean's ear.

"How'm I supposed to know?" Sean shrugged back.

"He's your dad."

"Does it look like he's talkin' to me?" Sean gave a frustrated growl and rolled his eyes.

After a quick heated discussion, Jack jogged back over to the group waiting for him.

"We have to head back right now. It seems we have a foothold situation at the SGC. We're the only ones outside the program at the moment. Daniel, T, you guys take Baker and Zillner with you, meet us at the access hatch."

The group headed off towards the black SUVs parked in the empty lot. Sean hopped in the front seat with Jack, while Adams climbed in behind him. The two set off as fast as they could towards the SGC.

"What's goin' on, Dad?"

"Foothold means there are alien hostiles loose in the SGC. We neutralize the hostiles and minimize their exposure to Earth."

They flew into the side entrance of the SGC, followed closely by the other SUV. The seven men jumped out, gathering around the access hatch.

"Daniel, I want you to take Adams with you, Baker, Zillner, I want you to go with Teal'c. O'Neill, come with me. We'll head down first, Adams and Daniel, Baker and Zillner, and Teal'c last. We'll get out at level 21, Adams and Daniel, level 25, you guys take 28. We'll meet up in Carter's lab if possible, maintain radio silence unless absolutely necessary." With that, Jack headed down the ladder, followed by Sean and the rest of the recruits.

Jack and Sean got off at level 21 and started heading down the hallway, Sean walking somewhat backwards, covering Jack. He was surprised at how silent the young man was, knowing he'd never had the chance to train him himself.

The sound of heavily clanking boots flittered through the cement hallways and Jack pulled Sean into a storage closet off to the side.

"I can't make out who they belong to, but they're definitely Jaffa." Jack pulled back the tiny periscope and tucked it back into his pocket.

"I'm not sure meeting in the Major's lab is such a good idea," Sean spoke out quietly. At Jack's quizzical look he continued, "The Goa'uld steal technology from other cultures, right? That's probably one of the first things they'll look for."

"Right. We'll search the levels see if we can figure out who's who. We need to find out who we've got on our side," Jack whispered back. When the footsteps faded down the hall the two ventured out in search of possible allies.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Daniel and Jack Adams snuck their way down the hallway on level 25, narrowly missing a Jaffa patrol along the same path as that 4 levels above them.

"It's definitely a Goa'uld that's taken over the SGC," Jack whispered to Daniel, following close behind him.

"The last Goa'uld that took over was Hathor. We need to find an Airman somewhere. Their actions may be able to tell us a little more." Daniel raised his pistol just a bit higher as if it would protect him just by being there.

The two slipped through the hallway, slinking along the corridors as silently as they could, hoping to come across an Airman or SF, dreading finding any more Jaffa patrols.

They heard the distinct sound of combat boots on the hard cement floors as they rounded the corner and tried to hide as best they could. Unfortunately, the Airman had already seen them and raised his M-16. Daniel and Jack threw up their hands in surrender, but staying wary of the man in front of them.

"Whoa, hey," Daniel said, trying to placate the Airman.

"Why are you roaming? You should be fulfilling your service to our lord." Before the young man could react, Jack's hand flew to his hip and pulled out the zat, shooting the Airman once.

"That was, uh, pretty quick," Daniel said, dropping his hands to his sides. "It sounded almost like when Hathor had us all under her little spell"

"So it's Hathor again?" Jack stepped over the man, kicking his gun away from him.

"Uh, no. If it was, none of the men on this base would be effected other than those who have joined us since then. I know for a fact Airman Thompson has been a part of this program from the beginning. We need to get to the medical lab, draw some blood. We might be able to find out what's controlling them."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Baker and Zillner followed Teal'c dutifully as he set about exploring the bottom level of the SGC. The activity was increased on this level, and Teal'c knew why Jack had sent him down there with the two recruits, he just hoped the two with him realized it as well.

The Jaffa patrol forced the trio into a storage closet as they waited for the group to pass.

"Okay, there's three of us, that's why we're on this level and you know how the Jaffa think, so you're down here right?" Baker asked Teal'c quietly in hopes he was not overheard by the passing Jaffa.

Teal'c smiled inwardly and offered a soft, "Indeed," as a reply.

"Great," Baker muttered under his breath. Unfortunately, at that moment a second patrol was coming around the corner. The door burst open, and five Jaffa surrounded them, zats firing.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Jack," Daniel called into the radio strapped to his shoulder. "Meet us in the infirmary."

He wasn't sure if Jack got the message since they were attempting to maintain radio silence, but they needed Lt. O'Neill to fire up the programs to help them read into what the blood sample could give them.

Daniel and Adams hid behind the beds, praying none of the base personnel overheard the transmission. When the sound of boots echoing down the hall reached their ears, they hunkered down tighter and readied themselves for a firefight. As the figures entered the infirmary, Daniel and Adams jumped up from their spots, ready to attack.

"Whoa, hey, hold up! It's just us!" Jack yelled at the two before they could shoot Sean or him.

"LT, you're the scientist, help us out here." Adams waved him over to the computer console where they had put a drop of the Airman's blood under the microscope.

"We're looking for abnormalities in the blood," Daniel added, pulling up the history from when they'd been infected by Hathor.

What neither Adams nor Sean knew was that prior to their entry all computers in the SGC had been rerouted so that Sam was controlling everything they saw. She would match Sean's keystrokes to make it look like he was in control and make them see chemicals in the Airman's blood that weren't really there.

Sean pulled up the visual of the Airman's blood and moved the image so it was side by side with the previous sample of Daniel's blood. "Okay, if you look at the display, the chemicals in the two are almost identical, with the exception of one."

"I'm assuming that's what's causing the difference. The blood is Airman Thompson's," Daniel said looking pointedly at Jack. "He was just as effected as we were when Hathor came knocking."

"So how did you guys defeat her the first time?" Sean looked up from the computer screen.

"It seemed to wear off slightly when she was out of proximity, but her little mind control breath didn't work on the women. It was basically they, who defeated her."

"The women saved your asses?" Adams raised his eyebrow at the two members of SG-1.

"Yeah, well, it wasn't exactly our crowning moment," Jack remarked snidely.

"No kidding," Sean laughed.

"Yeah, yeah."

"So, how're we s'posed to get rid of 'em?" Adams asked impatiently.

"Find where he's sequestered himself, then we can come up with a plan." Jack was letting the two run with it, but Sean's acuteness to the situation surprised him. It was exactly what he would say, just a little more extravagantly than he'd be able to put it.

"He'd most likely be in the control room and General Hammond's office," he supplied for the two.

"We could always just go in there guns blazing," Adams offered.

"No. Intars blazing, zats blazing, but no guns. These are our own people here folks. The Tok'ra and Tollan have ways of extracting the Goa'uld, so we need to take it alive," Jack adamantly pointed out.

At seeing the nods from the other three, Jack turned to head out of the infirmary. "Right, let's head out."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Sam was watching everything play out from the security room and had to admit, 1 and 3 were definitely the best fit for the existing SG teams. 3 tended to think a lot like her, and that would most likely work the best with the dynamics of SG-1. 1 was their best choice for team leader if the position was open, but there were no new teams in formation, so they'd have to fit him in where they could. She could tell he worked well in any position within the team.

Baker and Zillner, along with Teal'c had been "captured" so she wasn't paying attention to them quite just yet, they still had to wake up.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Zillner slowly awoke to the sound of flesh hitting flesh. He carefully opened his eyes and looked to the side. To his left, Teal'c was restrained to the wall with shackles and looked obviously beaten, but that had not been the sound he'd woken up to.

To his right, Zillner noticed a man standing over the semi conscious form of Baker, laughing.

"Insolent, Tau'ri. You will tell me what I want to know, or you will be sorry."

Zillner shrunk back at the sound of the man's voice. He'd never heard anything sound so frightening. He was glad to hear the knock at the door, and surprised when he saw one of the SF's he recognized from his wanderings through the complex.

"Lord, you are needed in the control room immediately. Our master requests that you initiate the sequence." With that the SF bowed and left the room. The man gave a final kick towards Baker and left.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

The four men split up into their original pairings and headed off to see if they could find the Goa'uld. Daniel and Adams were crouched outside Hammond's office waiting Jack's signal, while he and Sean readied themselves outside the control room.

Jack clicked his radio three times and simultaneously the two groups burst through the doors. Hammond's office was empty, so Daniel and Adams headed over to give Jack and Sean backup.

Jack and Sean, in the meantime, were busy with a firefight on their hands. They noticed, unfortunately, that Sgt. Harriman just happened to be the Goa'uld they were looking for.

"Shit," Jack muttered under his breath at seeing their culprit. He caught Sean's glance out of the corner of his eye and shot the last remaining man in the control room. The group stood up and entered, wary of any others hiding behind chairs.

Jack stood over Walter and shook his head. "Besides SG-1 and Hammond, Walter's the best choice for a Goa'uld host. He knows every detail of this command."

Daniel and Adams busied themselves tying up their captives while Jack and Sean sat Walter up and tied his hands and feet individually to avoid him figuring out how to escape while they interrogated him once he woke up.

"Didn't that seem just a bit too easy to you?" Adams asked walking over to Jack and Sean.

"Oh yeah," Jack answered. He didn't notice Sean inspecting the computers until he heard the 'Gate start to dial out.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Sam watched the group as they took down the entire entourage in the control room. It was time for her part in the ploy and headed down to the Gateroom to meet General Hammond.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"What the hell did you do?" he shouted.

"Nothing, he'd already set it to dial out when we came through the doors." Sean was quickly trying to cancel the dial out procedure when Daniel raised the blast doors.

"Uh, guys, I think we have a problem." Daniel stared out the window down at the ramp.

"Oh, for cryin' out loud!" Jack shouted. Sean looked over to see what was the problem and gasped.

There, standing at the base of the ramp, stood General Hammond, with a ribbon device aimed at Major Carter's head.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Zillner worked his way silently out of his ropes, thinking it was finally a good thing his shoulders seemed to be "double jointed." He'd easily worked his hands over his head, since his feet were tied to the chair he was in, and picked apart the knot with his teeth. He reached into his boot, pulled out the Swiss Army knife he kept there and easily sliced through the rest of the ropes holding him.

He ran over to check on Baker, and realizing the man wasn't in too much danger, headed over to Teal'c. The Jaffa had just awoken and was watching the Lieutenant intently as he rummaged through his pockets.

Zillner pulled a paper clip out of his pocket and immediately set to straightening it.

"To what use is that piece of metal?" Teal'c asked him, causing the young man to jump. He hadn't noticed him wake up and the Jaffa's deep voice had startled him.

"I'll pick the locks on the shackles," Zillner answered. He smiled and said, "Learned it from MacGyver when I was a kid."

"I will ask Major Carter about this MacGyver. I have heard her mention him more than once." Teal'c rubbed his wrists as Zillner let him out of the shackles.

"It was a TV show. The guy kinda looked like Colonel O'Neill," Zillner smiled.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"You don't wanna do that!" Jack shouted through the intercom at the Goa'uld.

The man looked up at him through the glass and glowered. "You will let me leave."

"Hmph, and _we_ don't want to do that." Daniel looked over and gave Jack a look that seemed to say, "I can't believe you just said that."

"Jack, I don't really think that's the best way to stop him."

"He's got Carter! I don't really care right now, we have to get her back."

While the two were arguing, Adams and Sean snuck out the side door and headed towards the Gateroom doors, thinking they'd gone unnoticed. Jack smiled slightly, just enough for Daniel to notice.

Jack saw the door start to open just enough to let the two into the room, and resumed arguing with the "Goa'uld" enough to "distract" him from what the two recruits were doing. Blue light shot out from the zat Adams was holding, and Hammond and Carter dropped to the ground. Sean ran over to Carter and pulled her away out of reach.

"Daniel, radio Teal'c. Get him to bring the other two to the Gateroom. Jack turned around and started slicing through the bonds on everybody in the control room. "Good job, guys."

He ran down to the Gateroom, gently woke Carter, and helped her sit against the wall. Making sure the other two couldn't hear them, he whispered, "So, how do you think they did?"

"I still have to look at the tape to see what the other two did while I was down here, but my reports will be definitely be favorable." She smiled up at him and he rubbed his thumb over her cheek.

"C'mon, I'll take you up there." He held out his hand and helped her stand up. He threw her arm around his shoulders to keep her steady and turned to Sean and Adams. "Watch him until the others get down here, then join us in the security room." With that, they left.

"What do you think is _really_ going on?" Adams asked, looking over at Sean.

"I don't have the foggiest idea."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Jack and Sam entered the security room, immediately run over by an excited Rico. He excitedly wagged his tail and licked their faces, trying to make sure they were who he thought they were.

"Hey, Pup," Jack said, rubbing his head. He helped Sam sit in one of the chairs and pull up the tape of Baker and Zillner. "Whoa, didn't think Walter had it in him."

They watched as put on a show for the recruits, pretending to hit Baker harder than he really would. Of course, Baker had been given a concoction thought up by Fraiser that would slow his reaction time, making it look like he'd been beaten more severely than he was. When Walter left, they watched Zillner work his way out of his bonds and free his companions.

"Resourceful, isn't he?" Jack said as he watched over her shoulder.

"Yeah, and 5 never once gave in."

The door behind them opened up, sending Rico immediately on guard. "Easy boy." Jack rested his hand on the dog's back, calming him.

"Sit down, please," General Hammond said pointing the remaining seats in the room. The four recruits sat down looking warily at their superiors, not really sure what was going on. Hammond nodded to Jack, letting him explain.

"The four of you have just been put through your final test." Jack handed a piece of paper over to Carter who continued what he was saying.

"Number one, Lt. Adams, throughout the past three weeks you have excelled in all various fields on any SG team, though you seemed most in your element when leading a group."

"Number three, Lt. O'Neill." Sam paused momentarily looking between Jack and Sean, suddenly realizing this must have been the recruit that he'd had the 'conflict of interest' with. "You have shown much the same talents as Lt. Adams, but your scientific experience makes you more valuable to a front line team."

"Number five, Lt. Baker, you are resilient and did not back down in the face of the enemy, holding your own in what seemed to be an impossible situation."

"Number eight, Lt. Zillner, you were resourceful and managed to rescue both your comrades even though Baker was unconscious. You managed to use what you had to make sure everyone got out alive."

General Hammond nodded at every point made by Major Carter, and agreed fully with everything she said. He had already decided where the men would be placed.

"Lt. Adams, you will be placed on SG-17 until the time comes to create a new team. Lt. O'Neill, upon recommendations from both Major Carter and the Colonel, along with your extensive scientific background, you are being placed on SG-1, as Major Carter's permanent replacement. Lt's Baker and Zillner, at this moment there are no open positions for you, but you will be placed immediately on SG teams as the positions open up. Meanwhile, we would like to keep you here in an official capacity."

The four recruits grinned at each other, until Sean's smile dropped a bit.

"You alright, LT?" Adams asked concerned.

"Um, General Hammond, sir, am I allowed to be on SG-1?" he asked nervously.

"That's already been taken care of, son. SG teams 1 and 17 are on two weeks downtime to get to know their new members." General Hammond left a confused group standing in the security room as he walked out to return to his office.

"Well, that was unexpected," Daniel said, pushing his glasses higher up on his nose.

Teal'c approached the recruits and faced Sean. "Welcome to SG-1, Lt.O'Neill." He bowed his head in greeting.

"You can call me Sean," he replied, to which Jack held up his hand.

"I wouldn't hold my breath. I've been trying to get him to call me Jack for two and a half years."

Teal'c quirked an eyebrow and sat back down.

"Listen, Sean. Why don't you and Trish come over to the house tonight for dinner, I'd love to have you again. How 'bout everybody. Adams, Baker, Zillner, you're invited, too."

"Thanks," Sean smiled and turned to head towards the locker rooms.

_A/N: Okay, i know it seemed really easy for a final, but i have a hard time writing stuff like that, so i did the best i could, sorry. i hope you liked it! Thankyou_


	26. ch26

Jack and Rico slowly helped Sam into Jack's house so they could get ready for the barbeque later that evening. They had a lot to take care of before Sean showed up, and Jack was just hoping they'd have time. He set Sam up in the living room, not letting her help him at all, and brought Rico into the kitchen so they could put away the groceries.

When they were finished Jack made his way back into the living room with the twin's folder tucked under his arm. He sat down next to Sam and laid the folder on the coffee table.

"Okay," Sam said turning to him. "This Lt. O'Neill, he's what? Your cousin, nephew, long lost brother? What?" Her smile relaxed him as he realized she'd at least figured out they were related.

"Not exactly." He picked up the folder and handed it to Sam. He watched her read the birth certificates, taking it all in. "They were born when I was sixteen. According to Sean, my father wouldn't let Karol, or anyone else, tell me about the boys, but he told them all about me. He told them when Charlie was born, so they knew they had another brother. I'm hoping to use the downtime Hammond gave us to talk to my father and maybe go meet Colin and Steph."

"That'd probably be a good idea. Rico and I'll probably just hang out and relax now that I know I don't have to worry about my future." Her reaction shocked Jack. He'd at least expected her to say something about his two sons. He thought maybe she'd be bothered by it.

"Actually, I was going to see if they'd meet us at the cabin. After you left for your lab today, I left base and talked to your physical therapist. He said that if we do your exercises, you can come with me." He looked into her eyes, hopeful she would agree to go to Minnesota with him.

"That would be nice," Sam smiled back at him. "You know, I noticed the resemblance, but I just thought it was my imagination. Your son?"

"Two of them. Are you okay with this? I mean, we're in this together now, and I've told you what I was hiding, but it's a lot to take in, even for me." Jack wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Thank you."

"No problem Jack, but, I will say, you've been acting a little strange lately," she replied, hugging him tightly.

"You're just catching a glimpse of what I used to be. Charlie was the best thing in my life, but it's getting better." He grinned widely at her, hoping she would see what he meant.

"Hmhehe," she giggled into his neck. "Okay, we need to get everything set up for when the guys get here." She stood up and headed for the kitchen, leaning heavily on her crutches.

Jack jumped up and immediately made her sit back down. "Number one, you're injured. Number two, you're a guest in my house. And number three, well, I thought I had a number three." Jack shrugged and opened the fridge door. He pulled out the steaks and set them to marinating. Just in time too, because he heard the doorbell just as he finished cleaning off the counter.

"Come in!" he shouted. He heard the door open and close, but the "Hey Dad" sounded strangled and cut off. He left the kitchen to see what was wrong and almost broke into a fit of laughter.

Rico had heard a stranger enter his house, but upon seeing Sean and Trish the poor dog had gotten confused. A bittersweet moment had popped into Jack's head when he realized Charlie had looked a lot like Sean and Colin.

"Sorry Sean. Since Sam's been injured so he's in overprotective mode. Nobody noticed him today in the security room, but his hackles were raised the whole time." Jack turned to the dog and knelt down. "Now Rico, where are your manners."

The dog drooped his head and wagged his tail, snaking his tongue out at Jack's face as an apology.

"Sean, this is Charlie's dog Rico. Rico, this is Sean." Rico kept his head drooped but raised his paw to shake. Sean took it and laughed.

Jack stood up and looked at his daughter-in-law. "Sara trained him pretty well."

Trish nodded then remembered the dish she held in her hands. "We brought desert, but it needs to be refrigerated."

He took it and headed into the kitchen. "What is it?" he asked as he put it in the fridge.

"American Cake," he heard Sean shout from the living room. "Layers of red and blue jell-o, with whipped cream between them."

"Don't even think about it Jack!" Damn, Sam knew him too well.

"I wasn't." Jack sounded thoroughly scolded as he joined the group in the living room bringing them all their drinks.

Sean took the beer his father offered him and sat in the chair, cradling Trish in his lap. She'd grown larger in the month since Jack had first met them.

"So, when are you due?" Sam asked, noticing the graceful way Sean caressed his wife, and held her close.

"Three more months." Sean smiled at Trish's response.

"I didn't realize you were so close." Jack looked up from where he sat next to Sam on the couch. "You weren't showing the first night you guys came to see me."

"We hid it, so you wouldn't know until we told you." Sean shrugged. "Trish was already five months at that point."

"Do you know what it is yet?" Sam smiled and leaned into Jack, getting more comfortable on the couch.

"Yeah, it's another boy," Sean answered before Trish could say anything. There was pride in his voice, but a hint of something else.

"Sean, how 'bout we leave these two to talk and you can help me set up out on the porch." Jack stood and kissed Sam on the forehead. She laughed when she saw Sean do the same to Trish. The men left out the sliding glass door, beers in hand.

"So, how are you handling this?" Jack asked, taking a swig from his bottle.

"It's hard. Trish cries herself to sleep most nights. I'm glad we're getting a second chance, but we're worried something will happen to this little guy, too." Sean leaned against the railing of the porch, picking at the label on his bottle.

"What'd the doctor say?"

"So far everything's going great. There's no sign this one will be early. We've been extra cautious, though, just in case." Sean grinned and sipped his beer.

"Oh, speaking of kids, Jack called me earlier to get directions. They might be a little late, they were having trouble finding a babysitter."

"What's his number? I'll call him, tell him to bring the kid." Jack smiled. "I'm sure Daniel invited Janet and Cass, so it won't be a problem."

"Kids. What about Rico?" Sean remembered the dog's reaction when they first walked in, nervous about how he would act around a small child.

"He'll be fine. He loves kids. How old are Adams'?"

"Cara is five, Ian is three and the baby, Taylor, is a few months."

Jack nodded and headed inside to give Jackson Adams a call.

_A/N: Okay, sorry it's been so long, thanks for sticking w/ it everyone! Um, i'm not sure when i'll update again and i only did this one today b/c i figured i'd give you guys chapter for my bday. well i think that's it, thanks!_


	27. ch27

27) The party was in full swing now, Cassie happily keeping an eye on the younger two. The men spent most of the time talking amongst themselves, while the women sat on the porch comfortably chatting. Janet had immediately checked Sam's leg upon her arrival, satisfied with how quickly it was healing.

"So, is that dog really helping, or are you just being nice to the Colonel?" Janet joked with her.

"Rico's been wonderful. The days I had trouble getting out of bed, he wouldn't leave me alone until I got up. The few times I was having physical problems, he let me lean on him and he helped me get to the bathroom. Sara did a great job training him." Sam's grin grew. "You should have seen what he did today when Sean showed up."

Trish laughed, remembering the look on Sean's face when he'd seen the overprotective dog standing between them and Sam.

"What happened?" Jackson's wife, Julia asked. She was sitting next to Trish, holding Taylor.

"We walked through the door to see this huge Golden Retriever staring at us. I haven't heard Sean's voice hitch like that since we were in high school. So, Jack scolds Rico and the poor dog drops his head. Then he introduces them and Rico holds out his paw for Sean to take."

Jack could hear the women laughing from where he stood talking with the other men. "If I didn't know any better I'd say they were talking about us," he leaned in and whispered to his son.

"Oh, believe me, they are," he replied. "Trish just told Janet and Julia about Rico."

"How do you know that?" Daniel asked, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"He can hear them." Adams shrugged. "He's got this hearing thing. We've used it on missions before. He knew you had a dog before he ever entered the house."

"Is that true?" Jack stared wide-eyed at Sean, amazed.

"Yeah. And Colin has a sense of smell better than a woman's." Sean smiled, taking another sip of his beer.

"Anything else I should know about?"

"Um, not just yet," Sean answered cryptically.

"So, Jack, what's going on between you and Sam?" Daniel asked effectively changing the subject. Sean couldn't have been happier, although it was a little awkward hearing about his dad's sex life.

"Oh, not much. There's just nothing keeping us apart now. We didn't want to say anything until the training was over so no one could claim favoritism." Jack shrugged like it wasn't that big a deal.

"What? How long?" Daniel exclaimed, causing the women to look their direction.

"The day she became the new eval officer."

"Three weeks? You've been together for three weeks?" Daniel broke off from the group and ran over to Janet. "Janet, did Sam tell you about her and Jack?"

Janet's head whipped around to stare at Sam, who only blushed in the dimming light of the evening. Jack was watching them and noticed how beautiful she looked in the setting sun.

"What? Sam? When?"

"They've been together for three weeks!" Daniel nearly shouted.

"Whoa, okay there, Space monkey. It's no big deal, why are you shouting?" Jack asked as he meandered over to the women.

"Half the base has been betting on the two of you! We should have known this already." The young archeologist smiled at his friend, as Jack finally realized he'd been putting on a show.

"Okay, haha very funny. Over actor," he muttered.

"Hey, Dad." Sean nudged his father, a look of confusion on his face. "Someone just pulled up in the driveway."

Jack turned around to see Greg coming around the corner of the house. He could tell by his ruffled clothes and bloodshot eyes that something was wrong.

"Greg? What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Jack, can I talk to you?" Greg stood in front of the group, wringing his hands together.

"Sure, come on inside." Jack set his beer on the porch railing and led the man inside to his office, grabbing the bottle of whiskey and a shot glass on the way.

He pointed to a chair when they walked in and poured the whiskey for the man. "Okay, what's wrong?"

"How did you do it? How did you go on after Charlie?" Greg grabbed the shot glass and downed the contents.

Jack laughed cynically and took the glass from him, pouring his own and gulping it down. "I didn't. I almost ate a bullet a few times before they recalled me. They sent me on a suicide mission, but I couldn't blow up an entire village, not after Daniel's little speech. He found me wallowing alone by one of the fires. He looked at me with this disgusted look on his face and said, 'I don't want to die. These people don't want to die. It's a shame you're in such a hurry to.' I guess that kind of put it into perspective." He paused for a moment, then looked straight into Greg's eyes. "What brought this on?"

"They just released the autopsy reports to us. Sara was pregnant. She hadn't told me yet, but she was far enough along for them to tell me I lost my daughter as well." Tears rolled freely down Greg's cheeks.

"Oh, jeez, I'm so sorry." Jack reached across and rested his hand on his shoulder.

"She must have been waiting until after the wedding to tell me," Greg said as he wiped the streams from his face and sat up.

"Or she wanted to make sure everything was going the way it was supposed to. She was probably worried. It took us three years to get Charlie. Listen, I think there's someone else you need to talk to. My son, Sean and his wife lost their baby son a few years ago."

Jack stood up and left the room, giving the man a pat on the back. Sean and Trish were sitting in the living room when he came downstairs. "Sean, I think you should go talk to him," he said jerking his thumb in the direction of the stairs.

He turned back to Trish and rubbed his hand over his face. "Where'd everybody go?"

"Tommy had a date, Scott went to go see his girlfriend and Jack and Julia had to get the kids home and into bed. The others could tell something's wrong so they left. Sam wasn't feeling well so she left Rico down here and went up to your room." Trish rested back against the couch, her hand trailing over Rico's head.

"I'm just going to go talk to her." Jack turned around and headed down the hall.

He stood in the doorway to his bedroom and looked in on Sam, lying on the bed. She rolled over and smiled up at him, causing a grin to break out over his face.

"Hey," he whispered. "How you feeling?"

"Not so great. Just tired, so don't worry." She held her hand out to him, pulling him onto the bed next to her. "What's wrong with Greg?"

Jack sighed, slumping his shoulders slightly. "Did Sara tell you anything, um, about a baby last time you talked?"

"Yes," Sam looked down to their entwined fingers. "She was scared. She, uh, told me how long the two of you tried for Charlie. She didn't know how to tell Greg." Sam paused as her eyes widened. "He didn't know, did he? She never told him?"

"No, apparently not. Sean's in talking to him now."

"Good, that's good." She paused again, not quite knowing what else to say. She figured now would be the perfect time to mention it, since they were on the subject, but she didn't have a clue as to how he would react. "Jack?"

"Hm?"

"Do you want more children?" she asked nervously.

"Yes, but only if you want them." He smiled at her, his eyes soft. "I've had my shot, I have two sons I'm just getting to know, and I have a grandson on the way. I would love more children, with you." He cupped her face and ran his thumbs over her cheeks. "If you don't want children, we don't have to have any. I love you, it's your choice."

"I love you, too, and I definitely want children." She got quiet, reflecting on all the tests done since the incident. "But we're not sure if I can have any. Jolinar did some pretty funky things to my system." A single tear slipped away down her cheek.

"Hey, it's okay. I don't mind. Listen, you rest for now. I'll be in when I'm done talking to Sean. I think I hear him now." Jack kissed her forehead and pulled the covers up her body, marveling at what a wonderful and amazing woman she was. He left the room and returned to the living room just as Sean was coming down the stairs.

"He's asleep in the guest room. I hope you don't mind," Sean said, sitting down next to his wife. Jack handed him a fresh beer and sat in the chair next to the sofa.

"Of course not." Jack watched silently as his son put an arm around Trish and held her close. He could tell the young man was reliving painful memories as he had been moments before. "Hey, I want you to talk to Colin and Rick, get everybody up to the cabin this week. I'll call your grandfather. There are two cabins on the property, I want all of SG-1 up there, too. I would really like to meet your brother, and I have a lot to thank Rick for. Make sure he knows to bring Kyle and his girlfriend, too."

"Pape Matt used to bring us up there all the time. Kyle, too. Mom never went though. She always said it didn't feel right without you." Sean took a swig from the bottle and leaned his head back. "Listen, I didn't want to say anything earlier, but I don't know exactly how receptive Jay'll be." Jack cocked his head to the side, trying to figure out whom he was talking about. "Sorry, Colin. When we were teens, mom told us she picked out my first name, you picked out my middle, and exactly the opposite for Colin. He wouldn't let anybody call him by his first name for years, so we just started calling him Jay for James. I still use it most of the time. He really didn't like you."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Jack replied. "I hope in time he can forgive me for not being there."

"Yeah, well I'll give them all a call tomorrow, and let you know what's going on. Right now we'd better get going home, it's getting late." Sean stood and helped Trish up. The couple made their way towards the door, Jack following closely behind.

He smiled as he grabbed the beer bottle from Sean's hand. "Maybe you'd better drive," he said, grinning at Trish. He closed the door behind them and made his way to join Sam in the bedroom, figuring he'd clean up tomorrow, no big deal.


	28. ch28

_A/N: Okay, sorry it took so long._

Jack awoke before Sam, as was usual. The medications they were using to help fight off infections made her tired, and she usually slept in later than he'd ever known her to. He lay next to her, admiring her beauty. He didn't know what he'd done to deserve her, but he was sure he wasn't going to mess it up this time. As he stared at her, he realized he didn't just care about her, he was falling in love with her, and falling hard. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with this woman, children or not.

He crept out of bed, and silently made his way over to the closet. He knew where the object he was in search of was hidden, but he didn't think he could get it out without waking up Sam. It was in the bottom of his box only because he'd never thought he'd use it.

Amazingly he was able to remove almost everything out of the box without making a sound, when he found what he was looking for. He tucked the object into the bottom of his green duffle bag, so Sam wouldn't see it before he meant for her to.

This was a big step for them, but he knew he was at least ready. He would talk to her while they were at the cabin, figure out where she stood and act accordingly. His decision made, he put everything back where it'd been and was just crawling back into bed, when he heard the front door shut.

He pulled his pistol out of the nightstand and cautiously headed towards the front of the house, checking each room as he went. When he got to the kitchen, he let his hands drop, tucking the pistol into the back of his pajama bottoms and smiled, shaking his head. Every dish that had been in the sink was washed, including a few extra he knew he hadn't used the night before.

He headed back to lock up his gun and check if Sam was awake yet.

"Hey, beautiful," he whispered, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

She rolled over and smiled up at him. "Did you figure out who that was?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, it was Greg leaving." He stood and walked over to the closet, retrieving the lock box from the top shelf. He put the trigger lock back on the gun and tucked it safely away in the lock box, putting it back where he kept it during the day. "I should have known it wasn't anything serious. The big Galute never made a sound." Rico barely lifted his head and banged his tail against the bed.

"C'mon, Pup, outside," Jack said leaving the room to let Rico out for his morning business. When he returned Sam was sitting up in the bed.

"Do you want a shower first, or eat first?" he asked sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Mmmm, eat." She leaned over the side of the bed, looking for her knee brace. Jack grabbed it from where it had slid under the bed and helped her put it on. The two made their way to the kitchen where he sat her down at the table and retrieved two plates from the cabinet.

"What's for breakfast?" she asked leaning back in her chair.

Jack smiled and handed her the note Greg had left the two of them that morning before he left.

'_Jack and Sam-_

_Thanks for everything, and letting me crash last night. Jack, tell your boy he's too wise for his age. I figured I'd clean up for you, and I made pancakes, they're in the oven keeping warm. Thanks again, I'll keep in touch._

_Greg._'

Jack leaned over and pulled the pancakes out of the oven. A side of sausage sat warming beside them. He set the platter on the table and sat down next to Sam.

"So," he said dishing out their breakfast. "I was thinking about heading up to the cabins early, to make sure they're both aired out and livable."

"Sounds good, when do you want to leave?"

"Well, you're appointment's for 1000 hours, so I was thinking right after that. We can get everything packed before we have to head out." He took a bite of pancake and smiled.

"Sure, you want to call Sean after breakfast and let him know?" Sam was busy polishing off her own pancakes, much to Jack's amusement.

"Yeah, that'd be great." The two finished eating in silence, the decision made to leave later that day.

_A/N: A'ight, so i just realized after someone read this that not everybody understands the pancake in the oven thing. It's to keep them warm, my dad used to do it for our fam. if not everyone was up, stick the cooked one's in the oven til everyone's ready to eat and they stay hot. my friend asked me if they had cooked the pancakes in the oven. well there ya go, thanks y'all._


	29. ch29

_A/N: Okay i decided to give you this one too cuz i was gone so long. here ya go._

The ride to the cabin was going to take longer than Jack wanted it to, but he felt the more they stopped, the more comfortable Sam was going to be. They'd been told she was healing enough that she could take the brace off and it was currently in the backseat of his truck, but he still wanted her to move around a little at every rest area.

They were almost there, but it was late and he knew she was tired. The silence in the cab didn't bother him. He kept his right hand covering her left, gently rubbing it with his thumb.

"Jack?" she asked softly.

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?" She sounded almost scared to him, and that was something he never liked.

"Sure," he said nonchalantly, hoping it would calm her nerves.

"Um, it's just something that's been bothering me for a while now, and Sara could never answer it, but she also tried to avoid it when I asked. My family's been military for years, so I know pretty well how you guys think. It's just, well, how did Charlie get a hold of your gun? I know you know how to take care of firearms and I just can't believe that you would have been careless enough to leave it out with a young boy around." She stared at her hands, not wanting to make eye contact in case she had really made him angry.

"We're not sure," he said softly, his eyes staying on the road. He saw a sign for a rest area and pulled over. Grabbing her brace from the back seat, being careful not to wake the sleeping dog, he hopped out and ran to the other side of the truck to help her walk around a little before they were on the road again. He smiled at her as he drove, letting her know he wasn't upset with her.

"When Charlie died, we were investigated by child services, but nothing ever came of it. I had the only keys to the lock box and trigger lock on my keyring that was in my pocket at the time. The police determined that both had been jimmied open, but they had no clue how Charlie could have done it. He was eight years old!" Jack furiously ground the heel of his hand into his eye, trying to hide the tears that had welled there.

"They figured he must have tripped and landed with his finger on the trigger because we found him face down." Jack started to break down at this point, the first time he had since that fateful day. "God, Sam, he was still alive! He'd been trying to tell me something, but I never could figure out what. Something about the man without a face and how he was sorry."

Sam laid her hand on Jack's comfortingly, not knowing what to say. She figured it was a good time to stay quiet.

"He was alive three hours later when the doc came out and told us the surgery went well. He was in the recovery room and we were about to go see him, when all these alarms and stuff went off. They rushed us out of the room. Charlie was dead a half an hour later. They told us there was a bubble in the IV they hadn't caught. He looked so different, lying on that table. Like one of those dummies they use in movies." He sighed thinking of the last time he'd seen his son.

"You know, there's the possibility that if we have kids we could be investigated as well. That's part of why Sara must have been so scared before." Jack rubbed her hand back to keep himself in control.

"I understand, Jack." Sam nodded showing him she really did. The couple rode in companionable silence for a couple of miles, Rico's soft snores breaking through every now and then.

"I really appreciate this, Sam," Jack whispered squeezing her hand gently.

"What?" She looked up at him confused.

"Just everything. Being so understanding of a grumpy old man, befriending Sara when she needed it the most." He shrugged, almost like it was nothing. "Hey, listen, we're almost there, why don't you go to sleep."

_A/N: I grew up in a military family and i just can't believe Jack would be so careless. i know too many military officers to believe Jack would just leave his gun anywhere Charlie could get to it, no matter how accidentally. Okay, that's all for now._


	30. ch30

When they reached the cabin it was well into the early hours of the morning, and Jack didn't have the heart to wake Sam. She looked so peaceful, he just couldn't disturb that.

"Rico, guard." Jack left the truck in the driveway, knowing full well nobody was around for miles. He just felt better knowing Rico would watch over her. He opened the door and headed in to open the windows up to air it out. Their luggage needed to be brought in, and Jack would have left it if they had any nightclothes in the cabin already, but Sam needed her pajamas and he wanted to make sure his duffle bag was safe inside.

When he'd brought everything inside and felt the cabin was aired out enough, he ran back out to the truck and gently picked Sam up out of her seat. Rico jumped out beside him and joyfully lumbered back to the cabin ahead of them, checking to make sure the premises was safe for his charge.

Jack slowly made his way through the cabin and laid Sam gently on his bed, being careful not to wake her. He pulled the comforter up to her chin and kissed her forehead. He sat there, watching her sleep for what seemed like hours though he knew it was only a few minutes. It was his favorite past time, Carter watching. He was pretty sure she didn't know he did it, but it didn't matter anymore, he didn't care.

The moon was shining in through the window, casting an ethereal, white glow over her features, bringing out the beauty of her face. He reached out cautiously and brushed a stray lock of hair out of her eyes. He loved the way she looked, when she was sleeping, when she was thinking, when she was pissed. There wasn't a time she didn't look good.

He loved her, that was for sure. No, he didn't _just_ love her, he was _in_ love with her. It was a feeling he never thought he'd feel again, but Damn, if it didn't make him want to hoop and holler. Instead, he crawled in bed next to the woman he loved, exhausted from the long drive and fell asleep thinking how wonderful his life was turning out. He may not have Sara and Charlie anymore, and that would always hurt, but he had Sam and Sean and Colin.

_A/N: okay, hopefully next one up soon, thanks y'all!_


	31. ch31

Jack awoke a little too early the next morning for his taste. He didn't realize where he was at first, since Sam had never been to the cabin with him. That and the pounding he was hearing on the front door had thoroughly confused him. Nobody ever knocked on his door up hear. The only people he even knew in the area would just walk in. Though he had to admit he was glad they didn't, considering the way he was snuggled up to Sam.

"All right, hold on. I'm coming," he muttered to himself as he rolled out of bed and threw on his pants. He groggily made his way to the front door, and just had time to school himself as he opened the door to see who was waking him up at that ungodly our.

Of course it had never occurred to him that the pounding, though loud, sounded a little… odd? So when he opened the door he was a little taken aback to see Cassie's grinning face stare up at him.

"What? How'd you get here?" he asked sleepily. He looked up then, and noticed Daniel smiling sheepishly behind her, with one hand raised in a wave to indicate he had brought her with him.

"Daniel, you and Teal'c weren't supposed to come up here for another," he paused, looking at his watch, "three days. And where's the Doc, how'd you get Cass here?"

"Sorry, Jack, I invited Janet and Cass, but Janet couldn't get the time off." Daniel shrugged as though it were nothing, and in reality it was. Jack didn't mind, he was always trying to get people to come up to the cabin.

"Yes," he said deliberately. "But that doesn't explain why you guys are up here _now_."

"Ah, we, uh, had a visitor come through the gate."

Jack paled visibly for a quick moment as Jacob Carter stepped out of the car, then quickly schooled his features, hoping he didn't let anything slip unintentionally. Teal'c followed silently an amused look on his face that very few could ever recognize.

"Jack, I was told by George SG-1 was on downtime, but I had to see Sam. Where is she?" Jacob cocked his head at the Colonel's ruffled appearance.

"She's still sleeping, the medication tends to knock her out," Jack replied with a shake of his head. He hated giving those pills to Sam, but knew that otherwise she'd be pushing herself too hard. "Let me finish getting dressed, then we can take a walk and talk, Jacob."

The older man nodded and watched Jack retreat back into the house. It'd been well over a month since the last time he'd seen his daughter and it was time they see if there was anything else he could do for her knee. He knew how much the Air Force meant to her, so why in the world was she up here, in Minnesota, with her CO, alone?

He turned to watch Daniel and Cassie by the lakeside, a small grin creeping across his face. Daniel was perfect with Cass, as perfect as Jack seemed to be. Jack was a natural with kids, Jacob guessed it was mostly due to Charlie, but Daniel had no previous experience, which was why it was so surprising to watch him with the young girl. The other thought flashing through his mind was that it could have something to do with the girl's mother.

"Ready?" Jack asked as he stepped up beside the man.

About a mile down the road Jack stopped and leaned against an old oak tree, wringing his hands in deliberation.

"So, what's going on, Jack?" Jacob sat down on a boulder next to the tree and looked up at the younger man he knew loved his daughter deeply. He just wished he could ignore it, but with Selmac running commentary in the back of his head it was nearly impossible.

"A little over three weeks ago, Sam was given her discharge papers. She stayed on for one final mission. She had to take my place as the evaluation officer for our newest batch of recruits. Jacob, if there's anything you can do to help Sam's knee heal faster, please try, even though she won't be reinstated." Jack sighed, thinking how hard it was on her. She never showed it, and he knew she probably never would, but it was tearing her apart. Maybe once she got back in the lab things would start looking up.

"How's she handling it?" Jacob remembered what she'd been like after Jolinar, though at the time he didn't know why she'd been like that, and he was concerned.

"Better than she was. Although I believe Rico is the cause of that. Hammond's been letting him on base with her." Jack smiled as he remembered Sam hobbling around the base with the dog running around with her.

"Jacob, there is something else I would like to talk to you about," Jack said pensively. This was a hard subject to bring up especially with how fast their relationship was moving.

"Sam and I have been seeing each other since she was discharged and-" Jack was thrown back by the force with which Jacob stood and before he could react the older man's fist had connected with his eye.

"Now, consider that a warning. I like you Jack, but if you ever hurt my little girl, I'll let Selmac take over before I kill you, you got that?" The anger in the man's eyes was replaced by the humor of the situation as he helped Jack up off the ground.

"Sir, I think I should stand over here for now." Jack laughed, rubbing the side of his face. "Jacob, I uh…" he trailed off as he reached one hand into his pocket and pulled out a small box. "I know we haven't 'officially' been together very long, but there's been an attraction between us since the first time I saw her walk into that briefing room. I would like your permission to marry your daughter."

"Three weeks is rather fast," Jacob said, taking the ring from Jack.

"Two and a half years, Jacob. I love her, more than I ever thought possible."

"Selmac keeps telling me this has been coming, but I never believed him until now. Just be good to her Jack."

_A/N: okay hope you liked it, i woulda posted more but i don't want to get caught up to myself, and my big bro chris is coming home tomorrow so we're trying to prepare. i know it sounds like Jack's moving a little too fast, but my best friends did that exact thing, except just a little faster, like engaged w/in like a week and a half. lol, please r and r. ! thank's y;all_


	32. ch32

Jack and Jacob came walking up the path just as Sam was hobbling out to the dock to see Cassie and Daniel, Rico bounding along at her side. She immediately noticed the redness and swelling around Jack's eye, and the sheepish look on both faces as they silently approached her.

"What happened?" she asked accusingly with a slight smirk flitting across her face.

"How are you doing, Sammy?" Jacob asked in return, effectively changing the subject.

"I'm okay, Dad. Can you do anything to help my knee heal faster? I want to get back into the lab as soon as possible. Janet won't clear me until I can go a whole day without the crutches." Sam hugged her father tightly. She'd missed him the past month, but she always understood the Tok'ra needed him and Selmac.

"Speaking of which, where are they and why aren't you using them?" Jack's face contorted, showing his concern for her as he pulled her into his arms for a good morning kiss. "He knows," he whispered gently to her to stave off her struggling.

"Dad?"

"Just be happy kiddo." He leaned forward and brushed a kiss across her cheek and watched the two as they exchanged looks. He couldn't help the smile break out across his face as the sparks flew between them.

The three joined Daniel and Cassie on the dock, watching Teal'c row around out in the small boat Jack kept tied up. Rico immediately jumped in the water begging to play with anybody who would throw him something. Jack grabbed his ball out of the grass and threw it into the lake.

"Well, you guys are early, so I can't say there's much up here yet. Nobody else is supposed to arrive until the day after tomorrow," Jack said standing and wrapping his arms around Sam.

"Not to put a damper on everything, but don't we have too many people up here already? Your cabin's not that big, Jack." Jacob looked skeptically at the couple, wondering who else was supposed to meet them.

"There's another one on the property that's bigger. This is more of the 'hideaway' cabin. The other's a little more obvious, so I don't go there that often," Jack answered with a shrug.

"How many people are you expecting?"

"Eight, or nine, I don't really remember."

"So who are they?"

"Oh, just the rest of SG-1, my family, and a couple extended." Jack shuffle apprehensively at the thought. Sean had already warned him he wouldn't be received well by his other son, but it didn't stop the hurt he felt.

"I guess until they show up we'll just help you get everything settled," Daniel said from his spot on the dock.

_A/N: Okay so i didn't think i'd be posting another one so soon so feel lucky. My "big bro" just got back from boot camp and tech school so we've been hanging out, didn't get back in until 2 am this morning cuz his flight got delayed. Air Force One was stopped at the airport they were at so it took them a while. Okay more soon! thanks y'all!_


	33. ch33

Their second day at the cabin was spent opening the other cabin and letting it air out, while Jacob worked on Sam's knee. By the time Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c returned, Sam was walking around without the limp and looking happier than Jack'd seen her since the accident. He really didn't want to break it to her that she wouldn't be getting her commission back.

He watched her swinging her legs as she sat on the dock. He couldn't help smiling as she sent the ball sailing through the air for Rico to retrieve. Cassie's laughter echoed out over the lake, filling his heart with love for his "niece". He couldn't believe that a year ago she'd been the lone survivor of an entire planet and had almost died herself.

"Hey, Sam, could I talk to you?" he asked as he approached her from behind.

"Sure, pop a squat." She grinned patting a spot on the dock next to her. Cassie gave her a pat on the shoulder and stood to join the rest of the guys getting lunch ready.

"So, what's up?" she asked as he sat down next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"Dad fix everything?" he questioningly gestured towards her knee.

"Yessir, good as new." She smiled up at him, but he could see the thoughts running behind those eyes.

He sat for a moment, wondering how he was going to bring it up.

"Jack," she said softly, gripping his hand. "Dad told me. It's okay."

"Rea-lly?" He cocked his eyebrow at her and looked questioningly in her direction. "I mean you're okay with it?"

"Well, no, not really. But if I got my commission back, my place on SG-1, can you really say we'd be able to go back to the way we were?" She scootched closer to him, seeking his comfort.

"Hell no. I've got you now and I never want to let you go. I love you, Sam. I can't go back to the way things were, ever." He wrapped both arms around her, pulling her close to him and kissed her softly, letting all his feelings flow through his lips.

"I love you, too, Jack. I could never go back to being just CO and 2IC. We've waited too long as it is." She relaxed in his arms smiling delightfully at the thought of spending a lifetime with the man who held her so securely.

"That's good to know," Jack laughed. "C'mon, it's lunch time, let's see what the boys have cooked up."

_A/N: Okay thanks here's another one. i would like to say taht my "big brother" is actualy my best friend and he's always sitting right here lol. thanks y'all!_


	34. ch34

34) Sean looked at the dashboard clock then over to his sleeping wife in the passenger seat of the Jeep. He smiled as his free hand trailed down to the bulge of their child resting peacefully within Trish's womb. He was so proud of her, of how well she was handling everything. Admittedly, he was just as scared as she was.

He pulled into the "driveway" of the second cabin and slowed the Jeep to a stop. He noticed it was just past 0330 as he walked around to the other side to get Trish out. Even six months pregnant, she weighed next to nothing and he easily picked her up from her seat. He walked into the cabin, noticing immediately his father had already been there to open the place up.

He laid Trish in bed in the nearest guest room, leaving the master bedroom for his grandparents when they arrived. He was too tired to do anything more than crawl in next to her and take a nap until later when they would go to see those who had already arrived at the other cabin.

It felt like only five minutes had passed before Sean was opening his eyes again to the soft snores of his wife still sleeping next to him. He looked at his watch, and noticing it was already 0800, he decided to get up and walk to the other cabin. He figured somebody would be up by now, though he wasn't sure exactly who was there. His grandparents were arriving later that day and everybody else would be driving up the day after.

He quickly left a note on the nightstand for her and headed outside. The morning was cool for the middle of summer, so he threw on a light jogging sweatshirt and made his way to the other cabin.

Getting Jay to agree to come up had been a chore in and of itself. His brother had been completely against even meeting the man who had fathered them, but after an hour on the phone, Sean had finally gotten him to agree to at least come up to the cabin. Of course the confusing part had been when Jay had admitted that he needed to see him and Trish to apologize for something. That conversation still had Sean reeling.

Oh well, he had until tomorrow to think about it. There were about a million things he could think of that they needed to clear up. They hadn't talked except for a casual greeting at their mother's funeral for a little over six months. He still didn't understand why Steph didn't make it to the funeral and Jay hadn't offered any explanation.

He carefully opened the front door to the cabin in case nobody was up yet, careful not to make any noise. Of course, he didn't expect to see the imposing form waiting in the kitchen for him when he headed for the fridge.

"AH!" Sean jumped back leaning against the counter, half sitting on it.

"Who the Hell are you?" The man asked him, folding his arms over his chest and glaring at the young man.

"Um, hello?" he responded, crawling back down off the counter.

Jack had heard Sean scream and came running in, but just about broke down laughing as he entered the kitchen.

"I'm glad you find an intruder in your home so funny," Jacob growled.

"Sorry." Jack smiled at the two. "Sean, I wasn't expecting you quite yet."

"We got in at 0330. Trish is still asleep for now. I just figured I'd come over and see who was here." Sean opened the fridge door and pulled out the orange juice, pouring himself a glass. "Anybody else want any?"

Jacob and Jack both waved him off as Jack sat down at the table.

"You still haven't said who you are," Jacob glared at the young man in front of him.

"Jacob, this is Lt. Sean O'Neill, our newest member of SG-1, personally picked by Sam. Sean, this is General Jacob Carter and Selmac." Jack proudly clapped his hand on Sean's shoulder and grinned at Jacob.

"O'Neill? As in?"

"My son. He's the reason I had to step down as the eval officer and let Sam take over."

"Wow." Jacob's head lowered signifying Selmac was taking over. "**It is a pleasure to meet you Lt. O'Neill. If you are anything like your father, you will be a valuable asset to the war against the Goa'uld**."

"Thank you, Selmac. I've read about you, and I must say I didn't think I'd get the chance to meet you this soon." Sean took a sip of his juice and leaned back in his chair.

Jacob sat down across from the two and shook his head. "Why didn't you mention him before?"

"Didn't know about 'em. Long story." Jack winced at the thought of what they were up there to do. He was going to meet his other son, and confront his own father.

"Speaking of us, you're going to have to be the one to approach Jay. He won't make the first move." Sean sighed into his glass and downed the contents, wishing with all he was worth it was a beer, or at least something alcoholic.

"Damn." Yeah, Jack definitely wasn't that great with all that confrontation stuff. He was having a hard time thinking of how to approach his father, now he had to think of a way to get his son to talk to him as well.

"If it makes you feel any better, he wasn't always like this," Sean supplied. "It actually took him sixteen years to hate you."

"Gee, thanks." Jack rolled his eyes and leaned his head in his hands.

"I think I missed something," Jacob said giving them a confused look. He glanced to Jack for the explanation, but turned quickly when Sean spoke up.

"Jay, uh, Colin is my twin brother, and none too happy to be coming up here to meet him. As far as he's concerned Rick is his father. We haven't really spoken in a while." The sadness Jacob saw in his eyes reminded him so much of Jack the first time he'd met the man.

"Sounds like Mark, Sam's brother," Jacob replied almost bitterly.

_**Hey, we're working on that, aren't we?**_

_Yeah, Yeah, quit your whining._ Jacob gave a purely mental laugh to show Selmac he _did _take him seriously.

"So, is he going to be Uncle Mark anytime soon?" Sean asked, a sly grin playing across his lips.

"What?" Jack cocked his head to the side.

"Oh, c'mon Dad. I know our presence makes you feel old, but you were only sixteen when we were born. You're still young."

"For cryin' out loud!" Jack stood up from the table and leaned against the kitchen counter. "Listen, Sean, we're not even sure Sam can have kids," he added quietly.

_**We can use the healing device.**_

_What?_

_**To see if your daughter can have children. I will be able to determine her fertility if we are allowed to examine her.**_

_I'll suggest it._

"Jack, we'd be able to tell for you."

"What?"

"Selmac says he can check it out."

Jack stopped to think for a moment before rubbing his eyes and replying, "That's up to Sam. I would personally love to know, but it's really her decision."

"I'll talk to her when she wakes up." Jacob nodded and rested his head in his hand.

"Talk to who?" Sam walked in, rubbing her eyes.

"Hey, what are you doing up so early?" Jack pulled her into his arms for a good morning kiss and held her against him as he leaned back against the counter.

"No meds, remember? Anyway, talk to who?" She shifted in Jack's arms so she was facing the other two in the room and shot a questioning glare her father's way.

"You. Come with me, Sam." Jacob stood up and led her out of the room.

Jack and Sean sat together in silence neither really having any clue what to say.

"So," Sean started, fiddling with his empty glass.

"Yeah, so, uh…" Jack trailed off not really sure what he should do now that he was alone with his son.

"What are you guys doing today?"

"Fishing. What else is there to do up here?" he replied with a grin.

"Right. Mom always mentioned that you loved to fish. Guess that's where Jay got it from." Sean smiled up at his father. "I s'pose we're all a lot more alike than we realized."

"Yeah, I guess. So, why does your brother hate me so much? For that matter, what happened between the two of you?" Jack's hands roamed the tabletop, searching for something to fiddle with. It wasn't normal for him not to have something in his hands.

"It's a pretty long story," Sean replied.

"Not like we won't be here."

"Right. Well, you already know we grew up in the same small town you guys did. Our whole lives were spent being compared to you and Mom. Everybody knew you were our dad. If they weren't told, they figured it out pretty quick. I was always more like her and Jay was just like you, or so we were told. It was great when we were kids, but Jay got sick of being compared to a ghost.

"High school was the worst. Jay would walk all the way around the school just to avoid the trophy case. He broke or tied all your hockey records just so he could try to get rid of you. Seven different colleges were fighting over the two of us, but I chose to go to the Academy. That's what finally set him off.

"He said I was taking after you, that I was just like you. He told me I'd abandon my children like you did, and that Pape Matt and Nan were just covering for you. I punched him and we didn't speak for over a year. Mom invited him to my wedding, but we barely spoke. After my Charlie, we made up, but still haven't really spoken to each other like we used to."

Sean sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I don't know what he wants to talk to me about, but I figure tomorrow I should see him before you do."

"Yeah. Listen, I think I'm going to check on Sam." Jack stood and clapped his son on the shoulder.

"I should probably get back. Trish will be up soon. We'll head back over later." He shook his father's hand and headed for the front door. He stopped and turned like he was going to say something, but waved it off and left the house.

Jack shook his head and headed back to the bedroom where Sam and her father were talking.

"Hey," he whispered, leaning against the doorframe.

"Come 'ere," Sam whispered back, choking on the words.

"Oh, Sam, I'm so sorry." He rushed to her side and wrapped his arms around her, automatically assuming the worst.

"He hasn't checked yet, Jack, but I wanted you here." The tears were threatening to spill over the edge of her eyelids as he sat and held her.

"Shh. It's okay. No matter what happens we're in this together, remember that." He held her face in his hands and gently kissed her lips.

Selmac chose that moment to make his appearance. "**Colonel, if you don't mind I would like to check you first**." At Jack's incredulous look, he continued. "**It will help me to determine your compatibility**."

Jack nodded. "Um, what do you want me to do?"

"**Just lay back on the bed and close your eyes. It will not take as long for you, the male anatomy is not as complex**."

"That's just a little too much information," Jack sighed as he lay back, eliciting a giggle from Sam. He smiled at the wonderful sound.

Jack closed his eyes as he felt the warm glow of the healing device over an area he never thought he'd need it. Thankfully it was over before he knew it. He rolled over on his stomach beside Sam and held her hand as she lay back against the pillows. He could tell she was nervous. Hell, so was he, but he had to be strong for her.

She gave him a nervous smile as her father held the healing device above her abdomen. She squeezed her eyes shut facing Jack and waited for her father to finish.

"**Samantha, I have noticed something unusual**." Sam's eyes got wide as Selmac spoke, afraid of what he might say. "**Your father tells me you would get extremely ill before your monthly cycle when you were younger. I have attempted to rectify the situation, but we will not know if it worked. All we have done was relax your abdominal muscles. If it has not worked, we will be able to try again in a year**." With that Jacob's head lowered and he returned to face his daughter and Jack, a huge smile plastered on his face.

"Congratulations, Sammy. Selmac told me everything was wonderful." He leaned over and gave her a hug as she sat up. Jack beamed behind her.

As Jacob let go, Jack enveloped Sam in a huge hug and breathed in deep. "This is wonderful," he whispered into her hair.

"Yes," Sam barely choked out through her tears.

"Sam?" Jack pulled back and looked at her tear stained cheeks, confusion written all over his face.

"Happy tears, Jack. I didn't realize this meant so much to me." She ran her hand across her eyes, wiping away her tears.

Jack sat cradling her in his arms when it finally hit him. "Sam, you can be a mother. I… I can be a father again." He kissed her softly and whispered, "We can be parents."

They touched their foreheads together and smiled. Jacob saw the joy in his daughter's eyes as he watched the couple together. Though her military dreams were now dashed against the rocks, he could tell she now had more to look forward to than ever before. The events that brought the two of them to this point may have been horrible and difficult to live through, but they were stronger because of them. No matter what he thought of Jack O'Neill, he was perfect for his daughter.

"I think we'll leave you two alone for the time being." Jacob smiled as he left the room, knowing his daughter was in good hands.


	35. Ch35

35) A dark blue Jeep pulled up to the cabin about a half hour later, and Sean and Trish stepped out into the bright sunlight. He'd had a surprise when he got home and figured he'd better run back to see his father immediately. He didn't know how they were all going to handle the situation, but they had to think fast.

"Sean! You're back awfully fast," Jack said stepping out the front door.

"Yeah, well, the other cabin's feeling a little claustrophobic at the moment." He shrugged and helped Trish down out of the vehicle and into the living room. Sam was sitting on the couch drinking water, so Trish sat beside her.

"What?" Jack turned around facing him.

"Pape Matt and Nan were already there when I got back. They said Jay and Steph are only about a few hours behind." Sean paced the floor wondering what they were going to do now. He'd banked on Jay and Steph not coming up until the next day. Now they had to figure out what they were going to say.

"If you can keep Colin out of the other cabin when he gets here, I'll go talk to your grandparents." He turned to look at his son questioningly.

"Sure, go on."

Jack leaned down and kissed Sam on the forehead, heading for the door.

"Uncle Jack!" He heard from the hallway. Cassie came bounding in, slamming into Jack.

"What?" he asked her, smiling.

"Dad's gonna take me and Teal'c into town for a little bit, is that okay?"

Jack looked up at Daniel who was following the little girl into the room. The look of pure terror was quickly replaced by amusement as he realized what she had said. 'Dad?' Jack mouthed to him. Daniel just shrugged his shoulders, an almost worried look on his face.

"That sounds like fun. I gotta go guys, see you later." Jack walked out the door and made his way to the other cabin.

"Where's uh, where's he going?" Daniel asked confused.

"My grandparents just got in," Sean answered. He glanced worriedly at his wife and sat in the easy chair across from the girls.

"Oh. Confrontation time." Daniel nodded his head and directed Cassie out to the car.


	36. Ch36

_A/N: Okay so i thought maybe i'd give you the next chapter even though i don't think i got enough reviews, wink wink nudge nudge. lol. i hope you like it, i wrote the convo while at work, so i hope it flows okay._

Jack chose to walk to the other cabin, using the time alone to think about what he was going to say. He was furious at his parents. He still hadn't worked out why they wouldn't tell him about his children. Colin's hatred of him only served to fuel his fire.

He was pretty certain there was no way Colin was just going to show up and forgive him for all the time he had missed. It was already obvious the kid had been letting this build for over ten years. Grudges like that didn't just go away. That's all right, though, he wouldn't push him. He knew that was the best way to alienate his son.

The walk was shorter than he remembered it being and before he knew it he was standing at the front door. He hesitated knocking, not sure what he was going to say when he got inside. Actually, he was more afraid of losing control once he got there.

The door opened before he could react, but thankfully all his years of military training kept him from jumping in surprise. He cocked an eyebrow at his father standing in front of him.

"Jack."

"Pops."

Matthew O'Neill stepped back, letting Jack into the house in silence. Jack sat in the chair across from the couch as his father sat down next to his wife, Margaret. The three sat in silence not quite sure what to say, but Jack's rage was starting to show in his eyes.

"Why?" he forced out from between clenched teeth.

"Johnny…" his mother started, sighing in frustration. He could tell she didn't want to talk about it, but too bad for her.

"No!" he growled back. "Why?"

His father spoke up, unusual in and of itself. Matthew O'Neill was a quiet man by nature. "You were sixteen and we'd just moved away, what were we supposed to do?"

"So you just let Karol handle it by herself?" Jack jumped up, pacing in front of the couch.

"We sent her money every month and she had Rick to help her." Matt's eyes were pleading with him, begging him to calm down.

"She should have had me! Rick shouldn't have had to do _my_ job." He couldn't believe what he was hearing!

Maggie jumped up and screamed at her son. "I didn't want you to ruin your life!"

Jack saw red. "Like Dad and I did yours?"

"And Kayli!" Maggie calmed visibly as she slumped back on the couch. "If anything had happened to those boys…"

"I would have been devastated," Jack finished for her. "But I would have gotten a chance to know them." He sighed audibly before his eyes widened in shock as he realized what his mother had said. "Kayli?"

Matt looked up at this point, straight into his son's eyes. "Your sister. She died a few days after the two of you were born."

"And you didn't think to tell me?"

"What good would it have done?" his father answered softly.

"I would have known. Just like I should have known about Colin and Sean." Jack's eyes were pleading now, something never seen from the military man.

"Would you have really wanted to know?" Maggie demanded. "Even after Charlie?"

"Especially after Charlie. Charlie could have had the chance to know his brothers and meet his nephew just once before they both died."

"Jonathan, you were too young!" his mother shouted. "Just like we were."

"Oh and Karol and Rick weren't? At least I'd always wanted kids. You never even wanted me, us," Jack shouted back at her. This was not how he had wanted to do this, but he figured if either of them were going to be on his side in this it was his father. It'd always been the two of them, especially when he was little, which was why it had hurt so much when he'd thought it was his father that had kept everything from him.

"Jack, we really thought it was for your own good. I'm sorry we never thought far enough ahead to see what it was doing to you."

"My own good? Colin _hates_ me! He's never met me, but he hates me. He thinks I abandoned them." Jack rested his elbow on his knee, put his head in his hands and sighed. "The only reason he agreed to come up here was to talk to Sean."

"He knows nobody ever told you!" Matt was upset about how his grandson had turned out. He never wanted the boys hating their father.

"That doesn't mean anything to him." He shook his head. "You know what, it doesn't matter right now." The rage grew in his eyes again as he thought of all the lies he'd been told by his parents. "What about the letters?"

"I didn't want her telling you about them before you were ready." Maggie sat forward on the couch. She'd never wanted her son to give up his life so early, like she'd had to.

"Did you keep her from reading my letters, or did you just steal hers?" Jack accused. "What about the phone calls? She could have told me at any time."

"But she didn't." The smug look on his mother's face made Jack's blood boil.

"You never would have told me. You would have gone to the grave and never said a word."

Maggie stood up and stared straight into her son's eyes. "You're right."

"No he's not. You know I wanted to tell him from the day we found out."

"Shut up, Matthew."

"No." Matt faced his wife defiantly, something Jack had never seen from him before. His father had always been a quiet, gentle man. He supposed that was part of the reason he'd decided to go into the Air Force. He didn't want people walking all over him, like his mother did to his father. His father continued before he could think any more about it. "You thought his life would turn out just as miserable as yours. You didn't want him to be bogged down like you were. You never wanted them. You would have given them up if I hadn't begged you to marry me!"

Jack was shocked. Throughout all the years he grew up with his parents he'd never seen this side of them. They'd never fought, but now that he thought back on it, they'd hardly ever talked either. His mother had always been distant, but never mean. His father had always been the one at the hockey games, the only one there for him besides Karol and her family.

"Enough!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. He was getting fed up with not getting anywhere. "Colin's going to show up here soon and I don't think I should be around when he does." Jack stood and left the cabin without another word to his parents. He was furious, mostly with his mother. He slammed the door as he left.

His dad flew out the door and chased after him. "Jack, wait!" Matt fell into step next to his son. "I'm sorry, for everything. Your mother…"

"No, you don't need to be making excuses for her anymore." He'd finally realized just who had been behind everything from the start.

"You mind if I go back with you? I think we need a little break." The man winced as he spoke, knowing this point could either make them or break them.

Jack shrugged as he walked. "Sure."

_A/N: So, there it is, hope you liked it, PLEASE review. Colin's coming up soon!  
_


	37. Ch37

37) The two men entered the cabin quietly, unsure what everybody was up to. Trish could always be napping and if she was they didn't want to wake her. With Matt being so naturally quiet, and Jack's years in Black Ops they were able to make it to the kitchen for beer before anybody else knew they were there.

Jack saw Sam standing with her back to them when they decided to join the rest of their family in the next room. She was animatedly talking to Jacob, waving her hands around as she explained something about doohickeys and thingamabobs. Jacob obviously saw him, but didn't give any indication Sam could read, giving Jack the chance to encircle her with his arms making her jump.

"Jack!" She spun around in his arms and playfully hit him in the shoulder. "What was that for?"

"Nothin'" he laughed back, kissing her soundly. The sound of someone clearing their throat behind him caught Jack's attention and he remembered who was there with him.

"Sam," he said turning around, keeping one arm around her waist. "This is my father, Matthew O'Neill. Pops this is Samantha Carter, and her dad, General Jacob Carter."

"Nice to meet you," he said shaking their hands.

"Um, not to sound rude," Sam started out nervously. Jack gave her a gentle squeeze, not really sure what it was she was going to say, but he knew if she was going to ask, she was curious and couldn't figure it out on her own. "But, uh, you don't look old enough to be Jack's father."

Matt looked momentarily uncomfortable, but was spared answering by Sean shouting from down the hall. "Pape Matt, that you?" The young man joined the rest of the group, his wife trailing slightly at his side.

"Hey Bean." The men gave a manly handshake to back slap, while everybody migrated outside. It was too nice a day to spend it sitting inside.

"Bean?" Jack asked, looking his son up and down.

Sean shrugged. "Back in grade school, I used to write my S's with a point and they looked like B's, so my teacher started calling me Bean." He smiled at the memory. Mr. Kirkpatrick had been his favorite teacher. Unfortunately, he was also one of the oldest in the school and had had Jack, Karol and Rick all in class together, so he had often called Sean, John. Bean had been a nice way to remember his name.

Sam glanced over at Trish and noticed she was looking a little hot, and not feeling too well herself, Sam decided they should sit down by the water. "Jack, I think I'm going to leave you guys alone for a little bit." Sam started to head off to the lake.

"I'll join her. You be men grunt, drink, beat your chests." Trish leaned forward to give her husband a kiss.

As she turned to follow Sam, he gave her a playful swat on the butt. "Go, get out of here, woman," he laughed. She gave him a smirk and joined Sam at the dock.

Jacob laughed and decided to leave Jack alone with his son and father.

Three generations of straight-faced O'Neills stood on the porch, beers in hand. None of them were big on talking, Sean being the most vocal of them all.

Matt took a swig of his beer, sighing internally. "Yup."

Jack followed suit. "Yup."

"Uh huh." A grin broke out across Sean's face as he took a gulp from his own bottle. Jack's lip curled up in his half smile his team was so familiar with. Matt broke out into full laughter.

"We really are awful at this, aren't we?"

Sean turned to his grandfather, smiling at the sight the three of them made. "You could say that."

"Colin should be here soon, I should leave you two to it." Jack squinted into the light of the summer sun.

"Jack, we'll straighten this mess out, don't worry," his father said quietly.

Jack sighed heavily. "Yeahsureyoubetcha," he mumbled, sarcastically. "I'm gonna go see if Sam wants to come with me." He patted his son on the back and headed down to the dock to find Sam.

"Dad?" Sean called out to him.

Jack turned, lifting an eyebrow in response.

"It's not important, but, where's Rico?" He hadn't seen the dog since he'd arrived earlier that morning and with how protective he'd been the first time they met, he was surprised he wasn't out inspecting everybody.

"Down at the dock with Sam. He doesn't leave her side. Most of the time nobody notices him." Jack smiled and turned back to retrieve, in his eyes, the most beautiful woman in the world.

Matt turned to his grandson, wondering how he was going to word what he needed to say. Situations were already tense and he didn't want to make things worse. "You should try to reach Jay on his cell," he suggested.

Sean tilted his head to the side, not really sure what Matt was getting at. "Why?"

"Get him to come here before he goes to the other cabin or things are just going to get worse. If he talks to your grandmother we may never see him again." He sat down on the few steps leading up to the small porch as Sean nodded and pulled out his cell. He listened to Sean's end of the conversation, making sure Jay didn't get out of hand.

"Hey, Pape Matt wants you to come to the small cabin first… No, he went for a walk… I don't know… Yeah sure, whatever." Sean closed the phone and sat next to his grandfather on the steps. He downed the last of his beer and sighed.

"He made better time than you thought," he said.

"We stopped by there on our drive up. He told us they were probably going to have to make a lot of stops, so I just assumed he'd be a while behind us," Matt explained.

"Well, he should be here sooner than Dad's ready for."

"How much sooner?"

"He's in town now."

Matt nodded, knowing full well that wasn't enough time for Jack to think about what he was going to say, even with Jay and Sean talking before hand.


	38. Ch38

_A/N: Sorry it took so long. Thanks to my wonderful betas for helpin me out!_

Colin "Jay" and Stephanie O'Neill pulled up to the little cabin just after noon, Jay was hesitant to get out of the car. He knew it had only been twenty minutes since Sean had called him, Jack should still be gone on his "walk." He really hadn't wanted to come up here, at all, but Sean had convinced him it would be worth it. Actually, Steph had. He was only up there because of Sean.

Steph had convinced him the petty disagreement they'd been keeping alive for so many years needed to come to an end. She and Trish were getting sick of the two of them not talking. There really wasn't anything left for them to argue over, hadn't been since Charlie had been born, but they still didn't talk.

It wasn't like they were upset with each other anymore. They just never found the time to talk, even about the important things. They hadn't said more than a few words to each other at their mother's funeral. Of course, when Steph had found out about that, she'd been furious.

"_Hey, there." Jay stepped up to the bed his wife was laying in, sitting down next to her._

_She gripped his hand tightly, showing her support. "How'd it go?"_

"_It was a funeral, how do you think?"_

"_How're your brothers?"_

"_Kyle's upset. He's snapping at everybody who tries to talk to him."_

"_What about Sean?"_

"_What about him?"_

"_Didn't you talk to him?"_

"_Why should I?"_

"_You smarmy, stubborn, son-of-a-"_

"_Stephanie!"_

"_Well, you are. I can't believe the two of you. Trish and I are sick of this!"_

Jay sighed, realizing just how right his wife was. He didn't have anything against his brother. He used to, when he thought he'd turn out like their father, but he'd seen how much Sean had wanted his son.

He pulled up the e-brake and shut off the car, wondering if this really was the best thing to really do. He knew he had to come up to see Sean, but the fact that _he_ would be there was just enough to make him doubt himself. Sean had always called him Dad that was his thing. He'd never do it though. At least he didn't think he ever would. He just couldn't get over the fact that the man had never been there for him like a father should, like Rick had.

He leaned over and gently shook his wife awake. Steph hadn't been sleeping very well. Actually, neither had he, but he knew she had never been a sound sleeper anyway, so he'd let her sleep on the trip up.

"Hey," he whispered softly to her.

"We there?" She barely opened her eyes, grinning at him.

"Yeah."

"Don't sound so enthused," she yawned sleepily, as she looked into the backseat.

"Sorry, I'm just not sure I'm ready for this."

The two of them got out of the car and looked around. Steph was still a little on the sleepy side, not really paying attention to her surroundings, so Jay noticed the women on the dock first.

"Hey, Trish is down at the dock. Why don't you go talk to her while I find Sean?" He pulled her in for a hug and kissed her forehead. Steph took their most precious cargo out of the backseat and headed off to sit with Trish.

Jay took a deep breath, held his shoulders high and headed into the small cabin to face his brother and whoever else was waiting for him. He figured he might as well get this over with. He was so busy with his own thoughts he didn't notice the two figures sitting on the front porch as he came around the corner.

_A/N: Okay so there's a little bit of Jay for ya. More to come as soon as i can get them sent off. I know it seems like it's taking forever, that's at least what i think, but there really is more to this story somehwere, i just have to get there. thanks for all the wonderful reviews! please keep it up, it helps me be more creative, i think. lol.   
_


	39. Ch39

39) Jack was wandering along a small pathway not very many knew about, thinking of everything that had happened over the past couple of months. The face of SG-1 was forever changed, now the most unique unit by far. They were the only unit with an alien on the team, though Teal'c had insisted he be placed with O'Neill, but now they were truly a familial unit, with Sean now his 2IC.

He certainly had a lot to think about these days. As much as he knew Sean was a competent warrior, he knew family members weren't placed under the same command for good reason. Nobody wanted to tell the living relatives they'd lost more than one family member in one operation.

He'd always feared for Charlie's life when he was little, but he'd always thought he'd have to protect him from the rest of the world, not from his own father. He'd failed Charlie all those years ago, and it ended his life. He could fail Sean in just the same way. If something happened in the field, not only could Sean die, others could as well.

He couldn't imagine losing Sean now that he knew about him. Of course that didn't make up for twenty-six missing years. He'd missed the birth of his first grandson, _grandson_ for cryin' out loud! Man, he felt old.

He wondered if his age put doubts in Sam's mind about having children. She could certainly pick someone far greater than he. At least someone younger. He was grumpy, old, cynical and generally not the best of company.

He knew he loved her, though, and that meant more than anything. Her happiness was the only thing that mattered. He loved her enough to let her go if she found someone better than him. She could pick anyone she wanted. No man would ever turn her down.

Janet _had_ told him that Broken Virus thing that they'd caught in the Land of Light had brought out the primitive mind. He was supposed to be flattered that Carter had jumped him in the locker room; after all, she was picking the best choice in a mate. But that had been back at the beginning of the program, before she had known the details of his life, before she knew about Sara and Charlie, and now Sean and Colin. He wouldn't blame her one bit if she decided he wasn't the one for her.

Rico's loud bark broke into his thoughts shaking him back into the present. He watched the Golden Retriever bound to his side and kneeled down to pet him.

"What's goin' on pup? I thought you weren't leaving Sam."

"He's not." Sam came around the bend in the trail and smiled at him.

"What happened to enjoying your time at the dock?" He brought her into his arms and kissed her forehead.

She squeezed him comfortingly before whispering nervously, "Colin's here." She saw him shut his eyes, trying to block out the feelings she knew were coursing through him. That and his eyes were the only part of him she could read when his body and face were blank slates.

"Okay." He didn't really know what else to say. It's not like he could be openly excited under the circumstances. Had Colin been more like Sean, he wouldn't be apprehensive at all, there wouldn't be a need to be. But he wasn't. He wasn't anything like his brother, and he hated his father.

"Hey, you okay?" Sam linked their arms together as they continued walking down the trail. She'd seen everything flit across his face in less than a second, but the emotions were definitely there. She couldn't understand why everyone thought this man was so controlled. If you took the time to pay attention to him, you'd see he had more layers than an onion. Maybe that was the problem, nobody wanted to be in the same room long enough to find out. That was all his fault. He didn't let anybody get close to him. It took her almost three years. Kids, they wormed their way in almost instantaneously.

"No, not really." Jack sighed, just barely willing himself to keep moving.

"It'll be okay," she assured him, squeezing his arm comfortingly.

They continued on in silence, a silence that meant Jack didn't believe her. Not that she could really blame him, she didn't fully believe it herself.

"Penny?" she said, breaking into the crunches of the plant-life under their feet.

"Huh?" Realization dawned on his face as soon as he spoke. "Oh, I was just thinking back to that Broken Virus thingy."

"The Broca Virus? The one that turned us into cavemen?"

"Uh, yeah, that one."

"What about it?

"I know, back then, there was that whole physical attraction, Alpha Male, team leader and all, but now you know everything about me. If you want to leave, you can go ahead." He slid his hand down to hers and locked their fingers together.

"How can you think that? After the news Selmac gave us this morning, you're willing to throw this away? What did we discuss yesterday?" Sam thoroughly scolded him, not understanding why he would be so self defacing.

"You're right, Sam, I'm sorry. I just figured that now that you know you can have kids you'd want to find someone… _better_ to have a family with." Jack shrugged. The rough, no-nonsense Colonel was replaced with Jack, the man who up until just now had no real clue where he stood with the woman with whom he had fallen so deeply in love.

"Well, anyway, it's such a nice day and Rico's been itching to run about, so why don't we stay out here for a while." Sam flashed him a Just-for-Jack patented smile and continued walking on their way. Jack smiled back, thinking that now part of his day was perfect.


	40. Ch40

_A/N: Okay, so sorry it's been a while, life's been hectic. i'm sorry they've been short and cliffhangers, but i'm not that far ahead in writing for you guy, so i figured i'd take my time now, instead of making you wait forever later. enjoy!  
_

Jay startled when the two figures sitting on the porch stood up. He wasn't expecting anybody to be waiting for him. Hell, he didn't even think Sean would show up for a while once he was there. He'd wanted to talk to Poppy Matt once he first got there, but now he wouldn't have the chance. Matt stood, patted Sean's shoulder and went inside the cabin, effectively leaving the two brothers alone.

Jay was the first to speak. "Sean."

Sean nodded back and held up a fresh beer they had brought out for him. "Jay."

Jay stuttered momentarily, not quite sure what to say. He knew he should apologize; the whole mess originally _was_ his fault. "I, uh…"

"Yeah, don't worry about it," he waved him off, beer spilling out of the lip of his bottle.

"No, it wasn't right. I know you're nothing like him." Jay popped open his beer and took a deep gulp.

"That _him_ is our father." Sean was frustrated with his brother's inability to forgive one man for never knowing about them.

"He was a sperm donor, that's all!"

"He _does_ have feelings, you know!" Sean shouted back at Jay. The two were easily escalating into an all out argument.

"And I should care about them why? It's not like he gave two shits about us." Jay paced in front of his brother's still seated form. He hated arguing but it seemed to be what they did best. He took another gulp from his beer.

"He didn't even know about us," Sean countered adamantly. He'd just spent over three weeks with the very man they were arguing about and had gotten to know him better than he thought he would going into it. "You know what, this is stupid. I didn't ask you all the way up here to fight."

Jay sighed and sat down next to Sean. "Yeah, I know. I'm sure he's an okay guy and all, but I'm not just going to warm up to him immediately."

"He's not expecting you to. He won't even be surprised if you don't utter a single kind word to him at all. He just wants a chance to get to know you." Sean stared out at the trees before turning to face his brother. "Besides, you know he's gotta be decent, Mom fell in love with him."

"People change."

"I know." He paused letting everything sink in. Jay had a lot to think about and he didn't want to rush him. "Well, you did say you wanted to talk to me, and I'm sure it wasn't about Dad, so what's up?"

Jay stood gesturing his bottle around. "Care to take a walk?"

Sean smirked, "If you don't mind the possibility of running into Dad. He wanted to give us a chance to talk first."

Jay shrugged and started down to the docks to pick up the topic of conversation. "Eh, we'll handle it if we see him. C'mon, I left Steph down at the dock, talking to Trish and some other woman."

Sean laughed, knowing who it was he was talking about. "That would be Sam. She's Dad's…" He trailed off, not really sure what he should reveal. In the end it didn't really matter, he figured there was more going on with his father and Sam and it'd all be out sooner or later.

"His what?"

"I'm not quite sure. There's been no announcement, but I wouldn't doubt if she became his wife soon. She was his 2IC for almost three years, but she was in an accident about two months ago and was medically discharged a few days ago. She hasn't been under Dad's command since the accident though. I'm her replacement."

"How's that work? I though that was against the regs since all those brothers died in WWII."

"Special dispensation," Sean explained. "Besides, they already started training me when I told Dad who I was."

"There wasn't anybody better for the job?" Jay asked skeptically.

"The other two team members are civilians, they need another military member and I have the scientific background they were looking for."

The two men approached Steph and Trish from behind, Sam having left to find Jack just moments before. Steph turned to face them, holding a small baby in her arms.

"Hey, Steph, why don't you and Trish relax together, Sean and I'll take her for a walk," Jay said, taking the infant from his wife's arms. He cuddled her close, a small smile breaking out across his face.

"Sure, Hon," Steph replied grinning back at her husband's smiling face. "Buggy's in the trunk, carrier's in the back seat."

Jay nodded and headed off towards their car carrying the most precious thing in his life.

Sean broke in, curious as to why he'd never known about the beautiful child in his brother's arms. "So, who's this precious little girl and how come you never told us about her?"

"Sean, meet Lillian Karol O'Neill. Lilly, this is your Uncle Sean." Jay turned to face the child towards Sean, proudly showing her off. "I'm sorry, but it just never seemed like the right time. I did try, especially since you kept us in the loop with Charlie. Mom knew about her, so did Rick."

"Bet Mom was surprised when you told her her name." Sean smiled, thinking of his beautiful mother and her wonderful smile.

"She never got to find out. When Rick told us about the accident, Steph went into labor. Lilly was born four weeks early, perfectly healthy. I know Mom never liked 'Lillian', but we loved it, and it suited her." Jay's smile turned sad. They'd named the little girl after her grandmother in honor of the wonderful woman she'd been. He leaned into the backseat of the car and got out the sling to carry Lilly around while they walked.

"Mom woulda been delighted."

"She couldn't wait 'til Lilly was born. We were so upset she never got to meet her."

"So that's why Steph wasn't at the funeral," Sean whispered to himself, but loud enough for Jay to hear it. "I'm surprised you kept the O'Neill. I woulda thought you'da changed it by now."

Jay shook his head adamantly. "No, Mom felt too strongly about that. I couldn't go against her on it."

"Yeah, I guess you couldn't." Sean glanced at his brother and new niece as they walked. "So, you know what you're going to say to Dad?"

"Nope, ball's in his court."

"What about Lilly?"

Jay shrugged, rubbing his daughter's head lovingly. "I'm not sure yet."

"He was pretty broken up when he heard about Charlie. He wouldn't show it, but I could see it in his eyes. At least give him the option of being in his granddaughter's life," Sean pleaded for his father.

"Easy for you to say, you guys live in the same town," Jay bit back almost accusingly.

"You don't think he'd make an effort to see her?" Sean whipped around wanting to grab his brother's arm, but knowing it would disturb the child. "Maybe we should get back. I'm sure Dad's worried about what we're up to."

Jay turned to Sean as they started heading back. "You know what irks me the most, though? Everybody's always singin' his praises and sayin' what a wonderful guy he is. Even Rick was always tellin' us how great he was, but Charlie , our brother, died, in _his_ house."

Sean shook his head, turning serious. "Something about that just doesn't sit right with me."

"Yeah," Jay sneered. "Our little brother's dead because he was careless."

"No, I mean there's more to the situation than that," Sean declared, certain their brother's death wasn't an accident, and had nothing to do with their father or whether he was careless or not.

"Sure, whatever," Jay replied snidely. "We should really get inside. I don't want to keep her out in the sun too much. C'mon, Lilly, let's go meet your grandfather."

_A/N: Okay, so how'd you like it? i hope it's okay! Don't worry, Jay and Jack are in the next chapter, along w/ a little conversation with Sam! Have fun!  
_


	41. Ch41

41) Jack and Sam were on their way back to the cabin, enjoying the sunlight and the coolness the pond blew their way.

Jack had made many decisions on their walk. He wouldn't push Colin into anything, that was a given, and he would let him know that no matter what, he was there for him now. Rick had done so much for his sons, and unfortunately, that led him to believe Rick was their dad, as much as it pained him.

The rest of his decisions all had to do with Sam. He knew he loved her beyond even his understanding, and he would do anything to be with her forever. She'd already told him in no uncertain terms that she would be there for eternity with him. He also knew he wanted to make it official as soon as she was comfortable with it. That meant proposing to her as soon as possible. He'd learned a lot about her in the past few weeks and more was that she was a private person, didn't like a lot of publicity. This had made up his mind about at least one aspect of his proposal: it wouldn't be in front of the family like he had originally planned. So, when they were about halfway back to the cabin, he suddenly stopped and turned Sam to face him.

"Jack?" She was startled by his quick movement, not sure what it meant. In the field it meant they were in danger, but out here there was nothing.

"Sam, I'm not really all that great about this sort of thing and I know it seems fast but…" He dropped to one knee and pulled the antique ring out of his pocket and held it up to her. "Sam, will you marry me?"

"Jack?" She was more startled than she'd first let on. He was right, it was really fast, but they'd known each other for so long, and they'd been dating for a month. But, what would her father say? She knew he was okay with the prospect of them dating, but getting married was a huge step.

"I've felt this intense attraction to you from the moment I first laid eyes on you and you went all FemiNazi on me. I knew there was something about you that I just didn't think I could ever do without. When that Snake that took over Kowalski grabbed you, my heart sank. When I saw the elevator lights going back down with Cassie, my heart went with it. I knew I cared about you more than I was supposed to when I was on Edora and you were all I could think about. I _knew_ for a fact that I loved you when you found out about Sean and Colin and didn't go running for the hills. You know everything about me and are still willing to stay by my side. And I want you there, forever." He stood up and pulled her into his arms as he saw a single, solitary tear slide down her cheek. If they hadn't been so close he would have missed the whispered, "yes" she just barely choked out.

He pulled her back and brushed his thumbs across the tear tracks on her cheeks. He pulled her face forward, crushing his lips against hers, letting out all the passion and love he felt for her in that one moment. He let go of the past and let her see the future with that one simple kiss and smiled as he pulled her into a tight hug.

He twisted her around and kept one arm across her shoulders, his other hand slipping the ring onto her left ring finger. "C'mon, let's go back so I can get this talk with the son who hates me over with." His tone was joking, but by the look in his eyes, Sam could tell he felt anything but jovial. He just couldn't feel upset by anything at that very moment.

The walk back seemed to fly by, both parties feeling as though they were walking on clouds. They were back at the cabin in no time. He noticed immediately none of the men were outside, but Trish and another woman about the same age were both down at the dock.

Sam gave him a gentle kiss and headed inside to find her father while Jack went over to talk to the girls.

"Hello?" he greeted them questioningly, allowing Trish the opening to introduce them.

"Oh, hi Jack." She made a move to stand, but Jack waved her off knowing how hard it was for her to stand at the moment. Instead she pointed to the woman next to her and said, "This is Stephanie, Jay's wife. Steph, this is Jack O'Neill, Sean and Jay's father."

Steph looked up at him wearily. "Hi."

"Uh, hi. Trish, I'm going to go see if Colin and Sean are inside." He jerked his thumb in the direction of the cabin and turned to head that way.

"The guys went for a walk. I think Sean was trying to calm him down before he came in," she explained, letting him know he wouldn't find them in there.

Jack was frustrated. He just wanted to meet the kid, not get into an all out war with him. "This is stupid! We're all adults here…" Jack was broken off by the sound of approaching footsteps behind him.

"Uh, Dad?" Sean's voice suddenly carried through the silence that had descended over the group.

"Oh, hi, Sean." He turned and smiled, knowing Colin was behind him as well. He was caught off guard to see the tiny baby in his arms. "And you are obviously Colin."

"It's Jay." Jay pulled the hat up off of his daughter's face and pointed her in the direction of Jack. "And this is Lillian."

Jack's face softened at the little girl. As much as he'd loved Charlie, and he did with all his heart, and now the twins, he'd also wanted a girl eventually and Lilly stole his heart immediately.

"She's beautiful," he crooned. "She looks just like your mother."

"And Steph," Jay added with a smile.

Jack motioned forward with his hands at the baby. "May I?" he asked.

Jay looked momentarily uncomfortable, but knew that Sean had been right, he had to give the guy a chance. "Um, I suppose." He gently lifted her out of the sling and handed her over to her grandfather. The wonder in Jack's eyes immediately dispelled any ill feelings Jay had had about handing his daughter over to who was essentially a stranger.

Jack noticed how young the child was and only one thought entered his mind. "Did your mother-"

"No, she was born the same day-"

"Ah." Jack couldn't think of anything else to say that would portray how truly awful he felt about the whole situation and how it had turned out. "I'm sorry."

Jay was immediately skeptical, just like his father was known to be. "For?"

Jack just shrugged. "Everything. I know it doesn't sound like much from someone who hasn't been around like he should, but I mean it. I know we can never get the past twenty-six years back, I won't try to, but I would like to get the chance to get to know you. I know you hate me and I don't blame you one bit."

"I don't know what you expect me to say." Jay was starting to get upset and didn't notice Steph take his daughter from his father's arms, or the four of them heading into the cabin. "You weren't there when Mom needed you. You weren't there when Sean and I needed you. You were too busy playing happy families to even acknowledge us."

"I didn't _know_ about you!"

Jay shook his head, knowing he wasn't being fair. "Yeah, just keep telling yourself that." He turned a glare to his father and spat his next words. "C'mon, you _had_ to have had some inkling that it was at least possible."

"I had hoped, but when your mother never wrote me back after three solid months of letters, I gave up." Jack gave a resigned plop onto the dock and pulled off his shoes and socks to let his feet dangle over the edge. It still hurt deeply that his parents had kept something so special, so monumental from him.

"Mom wrote you every day." Jay's voice softened at the realization that no, he hadn't been there, but he would've if he'd known.

"Yes, and _my_ mother kept the letters from me. I didn't even know she had kids until she found me. I didn't know how old you were. I thought all three of you were Rick's. I'm glad that of all the people in the world she could've spent her life with it was Rick who took my place. He shouldn't've had to, but I'm glad it was him." Jack rubbed the back of his neck, uncomfortable with the emotional play out of the conversation. It seemed he'd done a lot of that over the past few weeks.

"Rick is a great man. He took more shit for us than he deserved." At Jack's questioning gaze, Jay elaborated. "His parents kicked him out when he started helping Mom, taking care of another man's kids and all." Jay sighed and sat down next to his father, finally resigning himself to get a little closer to the man.

"For years I wondered what you were really like. All I'd ever heard was how great you were. I saw all the trophies and plaques all over the school, had to hear the teachers constantly telling us what a great student you were. Nan refused to talk about you."

"That was because she never wanted me in the first place." Jay's head shot to face his father. "Your grandfather begged her not to give me up. I just found out today. And I had a sister for a few days, too." Jack sighed and turned to look into Jay's eyes. "You guys were never unwanted. Even by me. Your mother and I would talk all the time about kids and what they would look like, how they would act. When I moved, those hopes were dashed on the rocks, at least to me."

Jay thought about his own daughter, and Sean's sons. "I don't know how anybody could not want a child. Sean was so happy when he and Trish had Charlie, and since we've had Lilly, I can't say I've been happier."

Jack caught the delight in his son's eyes and knew exactly how he felt. "I felt the same thing when my Charlie was born. He was everything to me."

"I came up here only to tell Sean about Lilly, completely prepared to hate you. I've spent the last ten years that way after all, but I'd always thought Pape Matt and Nan were just covering for you not really wanting to know us. I never imagined you really didn't know." Jay sighed heavily. "There's just one thing about you that bothers me still. Charlie."

Jack winced. No, that part didn't sit well with him either. "I wish I could tell you exactly what happened, but I'm still not sure. The investigation never turned up anything. He wasn't strong enough to pull the trigger, much less break open the lock on the box."

Jay immediately felt chastised. He'd always assumed that Jack had left the gun out where the little boy could get to it. It had never dawned on him the situation could be different. He was starting to understand why Sean thought there was more to Charlie's death.

"Sean never said anything about that. I just thought you'd been careless."

"Never!" Jack was appalled, mostly with the fact that his son thought so little of him that he'd even think that. "Even before we had Charlie, I made sure my gun was always locked up. That was exactly what I was trying to avoid."

He paused for a moment, debating whether or not to reveal the next little bit of information to his son. In the end, he decided it could only help them. "The police investigated the shooting. At first they thought Sara or I had done it. All the evidence pointed to someone else killing him, but there was nothing to incriminate either of us. With no other suspects they eventually ruled it an accidental shooting in the home."

"I… I didn't know." Jay stared at his folded hands in his lap. He couldn't imagine losing Lilly and then having the police blame Steph or him for it. He was starting to understand what his father had been through all those years ago, now that he was a father himself.

"Not many people do. I just figured, he was your little brother, you should know." Jack shrugged like it was nothing, when in reality he was dying all over again inside.

"What about Sam?"

"What about her?"

"Sean said he wasn't sure what you guys were right now. Does she know about Charlie, everything you just told me?"

Jack sighed, remembering the car ride up to the cabin in the first place. "Yeah, she knows. She also knows that if we have any kids, there's a possibility we would be investigated by Social Services."

"Well, that sucks," Jay stated matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, but she told me she doesn't care. And since we originally thought she couldn't have kids in the first place, it really doesn't matter."

"So," Jay said with a slight smile on his face. "What _is_ she to you?"

Jack broke out into a full grin and stared out into the lake. He still couldn't believe what'd taken place not an hour ago. "You're the first to know. Back there, on our walk, she agreed to marry me."

Jay smiled, actually happy for his father. The attitude he'd driven to the cabin with had almost completely disappeared. "Congratulations. What does Sara think of her?" He remembered his mother telling him, Sara and his father had gotten divorced shortly after Charlie had died.

"Sean didn't tell you?" The sadness momentarily returned to Jack's eyes, but vanished almost as quickly as it had shown up.

"Tell me what?"

"Sara was visiting her brother in Chicago, she was in the seat next to your mother when the plane went down. That's how I originally found out about it."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Yeah. Sara and Sam had been best friends before the accident, so I think she would have approved. She wasn't really the jealous type." He stood up, holding his hand out to Jay to help him up. "C'mon, you're probably starving after that drive."

"Thanks," Jay said, wiping off the back of his pants. The pair headed up to the cabin in companionable silence, an agreement reached between them. This was like Jack's probationary period. If he did well, he knew he'd be in Jay's good graces forever.


	42. Ch42

_A/N: Okay I'm sorry that I haven't had time to update as much as i would like. here's the next chapter. i will say tho, that im very disappointed in everyone who's been reading. there was an intentional typo early on, and NOBODY has caught it. i'm still waiting for someone to notice. i want to know if ne body can figure it out. Hint: it has something to do w/ when this story takes place, and i shall forever be disappointed if nobody figures it out._

Cassie came bounding in the door as Jay and Steph were biting into their sandwiches Sam had made for them. Jack was sitting at the table with them, holding onto Lilly. He didn't want to put her down, ever. She was such a beautiful little girl, and she was his granddaughter.

"Jack! Dad-" Jack cocked his head to the side and looked at Daniel for a moment. The young archeologist shrugged, the deer-in-the-headlights look flashing through his eyes. "-found this little sandwich shop in town, it was amazing, and they had the _best_ ice cream-" She stopped suddenly as she noticed the baby in his arms. "Oh, she's adorable, who is she?"

Jack smiled proudly, his eyes asking permission from his son. Jay nodded and Jack turned to face Cassie so she could get a better look. "Cass, this is Lillian O'Neill, my granddaughter."

Cassie knelt down beside him and ran her hand over the downy brown hair on the top of the baby's head. "Can I?"

"You have to ask Jay and Steph." She looked over at the couple and when Jay gestured for her to go ahead, she squealed and took the baby out of the Colonel's arms.

Jack smiled and stood, taking Daniel away from the crowd for a moment. He clapped him on the shoulder, dragging him onto the back porch.

"So, what's with all this Dad stuff?" he asked, sitting in one of the deck chairs he had out back.

"I have no idea. She started it this morning when she woke up. Uh, Janet and I, uh, started seeing each other, um about a week before you and Sam did." Daniel looked nervously up at his best friend, trying to judge his reaction.

"And you didn't tell us?" Jack practically shouted in mock surprise.

Daniel just tilted his eyebrow and shook his head, laughing. "Okay, so I deserved that."

"So, is it serious?" Jack just grinned at his friend, so much like a little brother to him. The little brother who needed to be protected from everything and every one, including himself.

"I, uh, I think so." Daniel's grin grew, as he blushed.

"You think?" Jack asked sarcastically.

"Well, other than going out to dinner and movies, we haven't exactly had time alone." He winced, revealing what he felt was such intimate information.

"_Obviously_ Cassie approves." Jack smirked back at him.

"Yeah, well, we should get back in there."

Jack stood up and opened the back door. "Afraid they'll start gossiping about you?" He left Daniel out on the deck and walked back to the table noticing his new favorite occupant was missing, along with her mother. He sat across from Jay as the young man finished his lunch.

"Lilly got hungry," he shrugged taking a gulp of milk from the glass in front of him.

Jack nodded in understanding and turned to Cassie. "So what else did you do in town?"

Her eyes got as big as saucers as she started recounting the events of their trip. "This HUGE guy started picking a fight with Dad, but Teal'c just stared at him and he backed down." She started snickering. "I think he thought Dad was gay."

Sean had walked into the room the same time Cassie had started talking and heard the whole thing. _Huge guy?_ He shared a glance with Jay before the brothers both mumbled, "McGrady," at the same time as their father.

Jack stared at the boys, less surprised than he should have been he supposed, but enough for it to show.

"Who?" Daniel asked, coming in on the tail end of the conversation.

"McGrady," Jack practically spat. "That beast you ran into earlier. Just try to stay clear of him and you shouldn't have any more problems. Don't know how he connected you to me, though." ,

"He probably overheard me talking to Mrs. Hastings. She's really nice," Cassie added before taking off down the hall to her room.

Jay had obviously become uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was taking and got up to put his dishes in the sink. "I'm gonna go check on Steph." He left the room without another word.

Daniel, being the only one left besides Sean, decided to give the father and son a chance to talk and silently made his exit, searching for Sam and Jacob.

"What'd I miss?" Jack asked Sean when everyone had left.

Sean backed off, throwing his hands in the air. "Oh, no. Now that you and Jay know each other, I'm not getting in the middle." Sean sighed and sat down next to his father. "This is something you need to ask Jay about and until you guys talk about it, that little family down the hall-" he pointed in the direction of the bedrooms, having given Steph permission to use it when Lilly started crying. "- won't feel comfortable around you."

"Oh, this just got a little more complicated, didn't it?" Jack dropped his head to his hands and sighed. Of course, it was never easy with him. He wasn't allowed to have it easy just once.

"Yeahsureyoubetcha," Sean said, patting his father on the back and heading outside.

Matt came back in at that moment to retrieve more beer for himself and Jacob. The two men had hit it off immediately and hadn't stopped talking since Jay had arrived. It had surprised Sam, of course, to see her father open up to someone like he had, but all of his friends were either military or alien, it was good for him to have a friend outside for once.

He immediately noticed his son's somber mood and assumed the worst. "You okay, Jack?" He popped open his own beer and handed the bottle intended for Jacob over to Jack. "I take it, it didn't go well?"

"No, it went fine." Jack popped the top off his bottle and took a swig. "Daniel bumped into McGrady. Jay got real uncomfortable and left to find Steph."

"Ah." Matt sat back, sipping his beer quietly.

"You know what this is about." It wasn't a question. Jack could see it in his father's eyes.

Matt just nodded, never taking his eyes off Jack. Jack in turn sat forward and splayed his hands out on the table, pointer finger and thumb tips touching, like he usually did when he got increasingly frustrated.

"Care to elaborate?" His tone was biting, but he really didn't care. His life had been thrown upside down the past few months and it just didn't seem to be easing up as time went on.

"Nope." Matt stood up, retrieved another beer for Jacob and left his son to think about what he was going to do.

_Ah, hell._ Now he had no clue what he was supposed to do. Whatever was bothering Jay was serious, and that meant _more_ talking. He couldn't stand talking and it seemed that's all he'd been doing since he got back from Minnesota after Karol's funeral.

That was just one of the _many_ reasons he loved Sam. There were so many times when all they had to do was look at each other and they could carry on an entire conversation.

He decided with a final grunt to go search out his son and find out just what was going on. He got up and headed down the hall, knowing they were somewhere in the house.

He heard muffled voices from one of the bedrooms, knowing Cassie was alone in hers, he was guessing it was Jay and Steph. He gently knocked on the door, not wanting to interrupt if she was still feeding Lilly; he remembered how fussy Charlie used to get if he got distracted from eating.

"Come." Jack slowly opened the door to see Steph standing up from the bed where Jay was sitting, holding his daughter close to him. The sight before him brought a smile to his face.

"Hey," he practically whispered. He wasn't quite sure how to broach the subject he was sure was touchy. Jay wasn't a talker either so he was pretty sure this wasn't going to be easy.

"Hi." Steph smiled at the two men as they greeted each other. If there had been any doubt in anyone's mind that Jack was Jay's father, it flew out the window in that instant. The two of them were so alike it wasn't even funny. She picked up the baby out of her husband's arms and started to head out of the room.

"Steph, wait." The pure anguish in Jay's voice stopped her in an instant. His eyes begged her not to leave him, which was so rare in his position. He never let anyone see his vulnerable side.

She turned around, the question in her eyes and sat back down next to him. He gently smiled his thanks, as he wrapped on arm around her and rubbed his hand over their daughter's soft hair.

"What's going on?" she asked softly, scared of the answer. If her husband was this upset, no doubt it was big. He just squeezed her shoulder in comfort and gave her a little half smile.

Jack grabbed a wooden chair from the corner of the room and sat down in front of the two. He wanted to know what Jay's little reaction to McGrady was all about. No doubt the jerk had given his sons a hard time when they were younger, that was obvious, but if he had physically hurt his boys, there'd be hell to pay.

"What was that all about?" he asked, the Colonel in him coming out. He wanted answers, and though he knew getting aggressive wouldn't help his standing with his son, the fury he felt towards Darren McGrady was overwhelming.

Steph looked between the two men, her confusion apparent. She looked to Jay for answers and he knew he had to explain to her what had happened before he'd come and found her.

He wasn't sure how to explain anything to her, and hoped that she picked up on what he was saying as he told his father what he needed to. This was another reason he hadn't wanted to meet the man. This _situation_ could get out of hand, and he didn't want Steph to get stuck in the middle.

Jay took a deep breath and took comfort in the fact that his wife was next to him, his solid rock amidst the storm. "Steph, uh, she was a McGrady. Darren's daughter." He heard her gasp as Jack's eyes shot up to them. He should have warned her he was going to tell him about her past, but he didn't think Jack would ask quite that quickly.

He decided to continue on while Jack just sat there dumbfounded. He was letting the information sink in, but knew there was more that needed to be said.

"Everybody knows Darren McGrady hates you. It's been common knowledge since before we were born, so when Steph and I started dating, we tried our hardest to keep him from finding out. When I asked her to marry me, we knew there'd be no way we could keep it from him. Everyone else was happy for us, especially Grandpa Corin. I wanted to be there with her when she told Darren, but he wouldn't even let me on the property. He told her if she married me he'd legally disown her, have her stricken from all records, and he'd never acknowledge that he'd had a daughter."

Jay looked sad for a moment, remembering the pain that decision had brought his lovely wife.

"I offered to let her go. They'd always been close and I couldn't bare to see her in so much pain-"

Steph cut him off, finally entering into the conversation. She'd noticed Jack's eyes take on a softer hint, almost as if he was recalling some distant memory. "But I wouldn't let that brute take over our lives anymore. I love him, but I never understood his hatred of the entire O'Neill family and it just didn't seem fair that he hated Jay just because he's your son. Even though I haven't seen or spoken to him in over six years, I've never been happier."

Jack's smile was genuine, looking at the two in front of him. He, of course, knew the reason Darren McGrady hated him and his family. Hell, he _was_ the reason. He could tell they were scared he'd give them the same ultimatum, but he could never do that. He'd just have to be sure that Steph could come to him any time she felt the need.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that." His voice was quiet, yet his words were heard more clearly than if he'd shouted them. He wanted to tell them everything, but didn't know how they'd feel about it. In the end, he decided that it would probably help Steph to know why there was such a feud between the two families.

Before he started speaking, a memory flashed through his head. A little girl, about four years old, sitting on her grandfather's shoulders, smiling at him. Stephanie McGrady. Another one, she's nine and just fell out of a tree.

"_Uncle Jack, it hurts!"_

"_I know, sweetie. We're goin' to see Grandpa Corin, just hang on."_

"Oh my…" he trailed off, his eyes widening. "Stephie? Holy shit."

Her jaw dropped at the use of a nickname only one person besides her grandfather had ever used. It had been seventeen years since she'd heard it out of that mouth. "U… Uncle Jack?"

He nodded suddenly seeing the little girl he would play with so long ago. He hadn't recognized her when they'd met. Obviously they'd both changed so much since they'd last seen each other, she hadn't recognized him either. Of course, years of battle, death and hardship were worn across his face, making him look older than he really was.

"I never knew you were Jack O'Neill. After I broke my arm, Dad said he wouldn't let Grandpa Corin see me again, unless we stayed away from you."

Jay just looked back and forth between the two, not sure exactly what was going on. "You two know each other?" He groaned visibly. "What the hell is going on?"

"What do you two know about the McGrady's and O'Neill's?"

"Nothing except Darren hates you." Jay shrugged. Darren McGrady was no longer part of their lives; he didn't see why he should care.

"Corin McGrady was supposed to marry my mother. She got pregnant with me and her parents demanded she give into my father's pleas and marry him. Darren was four. I took away his new mother."

Jack looked decidedly uneasy as he waited for his son's reaction.

"Holy shit! What the Hell? I mean, oh man." Jay shot up pacing the room. He grabbed his wife's shoulder and pulled her to standing, making sure he didn't jostle his daughter on the way up. "C'mon Steph, let's get out of here."

Jack jumped up with them, trying to figure out what had just happened. He thought it was going fine. "Hey!"

"You were pretty convincing back there, using Lilly to win me over. We were hoping maybe Lilly would have one of her grandparents around, but I guess we should get out of here." He pulled his wife and daughter out the room and into their car, fastening their daughter into her seat as soon as possible.

Sam had seen the whole thing from the dock, where she sat talking with Trish and Cassie while Daniel and Teal'c talked amongst themselves. She stood up and marched herself over to Jack who was just standing there, a grimace gracing his features. She smacked him in the back of the head before scolding him.

"Jonathan O'Neill, what the Hell did you say to him?" She grabbed his shoulder trying to turn him around, but he wouldn't budge. Stepping in front of him, she tried to catch a glimpse of his eyes. The glare he held there followed the dirt trail down the drive and off into the distance.

He turned from her and stormed away to the cabin. "Nothing, Carter! That's the problem!" He yanked the door open and slammed it behind him with all his might, causing the wood framed to rattle on the foundation.

Sam stood, rooted where she was, circling and throwing her hands up in the air. She didn't know what had caused this latest outbreak. They had seemed to be getting along fine when she'd made them lunch, though Jay had been just a little wary of his father holding the baby. She could tell the young man still wasn't sure how to handle Jack.

She didn't know whether she should go after Jack or not, the unwelcome tears springing to life at the way he had shut her down. Of course, she hadn't helped any, yelling at him the way she had. She jumped when she felt two hands come down on her shoulders, one her father's, the other Matt's.

"I'll go talk to him," Jacob offered, giving her shoulder a squeeze. "You should try to find out what happened from Jay."

He headed off towards the cabin to follow Jack, leaving Sam staring after him. _She_ was supposed to talk to Jay? What was she supposed to say? She barely knew him. And then it hit her. Though she was not in the exact same position Jay was, she knew how he felt to an extent. She'd lost her mother. Her father was military, and he'd never been around. She knew, that of everyone there, she was most likely to get through to the man in areas even his own brother could not reach.

She turned and headed to Jack's truck, knowing she was the only other person allowed to drive it, thinking of Jack's last words to her. Carter. He hadn't called her that since he'd introduced the trainees to her a month before. It stung, more than she thought it would. It was like he'd taken everything they'd built together and thrown it away, like it hadn't happened. She knew that wasn't true, but that didn't make the feeling go away.

"Sam! Wait a minute!" she heard Sean's muffled cry from where he'd been watching the exchange. As the young man caught up with her, she couldn't help but see the hurt in her eyes reflected in his own. She knew he'd gotten closer to his father in the time they'd known each other and the rift with his brother hurt him more than he'd allowed himself to acknowledge.

"He's not going to the other cabin." He pulled out a scrap of paper and an old pen from his pocket, quickly writing an address down for her. "It's Steph's grandfather."

She took the paper from Sean, hopped into the truck and turned it on, the engine roaring to life. As she flew down the dirt drive, she could only wonder if this rift was about to end with the two conversations, or if it would forever continue till long after the originators were dead and buried, forgotten by the setting sun of too many years.

_A/N: Okay, so i know it might be a little confusing. Jacob and Jack talk next and then Jay and Sam after that! Thanks and please review!_


	43. Ch43

_A/N: Sorry it's so short, but i had planned on it being this way when i sat down to write it. i wanted it out before i left for TN on Thursday. hopefully i'll have another ch. written for you when i get back, maybe, maybe not._

Jack grabbed one of the dishes in the sink and furiously started trying to scrub off the nonexistent crumbs from the sandwiches his son and daughter-in-law had been eating at his table not more than thirty minutes before.

What had he done wrong? He played the conversation over and over again in his mind, still not able to figure it out. He'd simply explained to Jay and Steph why McGrady had been so upset about their marriage. Did they really think so little of him to believe he'd feel the same? He'd never hold it against a child their parents' actions, just like Corin hadn't.

Sitting the plates in the drying rack, Jack grabbed a beer from the fridge and stormed out onto the back porch. If he'd been at home, or any place else where he could easily clean up, he would have felt compelled to throw something, but he could never dirty his precious lake. Instead, he just stared out across the water, his neat mask set across his face.

He heard the backdoor open and someone step out to his side, but didn't acknowledge them. The footsteps were too heavy to be Sam's, and besides, he'd pissed her off enough already, but they were definitely too light to be Teal'c's. That just left Daniel, Sean, Jacob and Matt.

"So, you just gonna let him go?" Ah, Jacob. The only one brave enough to face him in this mood. That probably had something to do with Selmak though.

Jack ignored him, sucking on the end of his bottle. Damn, his beer was almost empty. Well, it'd give him a way to get out of the position he was in if he had to get another.

"Jack."

"Jacob." He didn't look at the older man.

"You can't let him run. You'll never settle this." Jacob leaned against the railing next to Jack, looking out at the lake.

"And you're the expert on this? Right." He turned to face Jacob, scowling. "I don't think you should really be the one talking to me about this."

"Why not? I know what it takes to fix things." He sighed before going on. "What happened?"

"Told him why Steph's father hates me so much, and he flipped out." Jack shrugged. If the kid didn't want to see him, he wouldn't make him. It hurt that he'd never get to see Lilly again, but that was Jay's decision.

"He's not going to make any sort of move to make up, you know."

"I'm not going to make him see me. I won't force him into anything."

"Let him do the talking. Listen to his side of the story." Jacob clapped the man on the shoulder, leaving him to his own devices. He just hoped he'd said enough to make the stubborn man take the first step to fixing things with his son. He didn't want him to go through the years of hell like he had with Mark.

Jack nodded his thanks and watched the man leave. He wanted to see Jay again, to hold his granddaughter, but if the boy wouldn't see him, there was nothing he could do. He couldn't for the life of him understand why Jay had just up and left. He didn't think anything had gone wrong.

This was probably just another way McGrady was going to screw him over in the end. That's how it always went wasn't it? He was the reason they'd moved out of Minnesota and he had decided to stop playing hockey at the age of sixteen. That "accident" had left his knee screwed up for the rest of his life, though thankfully it had still allowed him to pass the physical when he'd entered the Air Force. Although he supposed it was better than what McGrady had been trying to do; he _was_ still alive after all.

Oh well. He sat down in one of the deck chairs and watched the birds dip into the lake and the fish jump at the bugs.

_A/N: Okay if i didn't explain anything well enough, i'm sorry, let me know and i'll try to clear it up in later chapters. I know it's going a long slowly but i really am trying. Thanks soooo much please review!_


	44. Ch44

_A/N: Okay, so I am sooooo sorry this has taken so long! I just sent it off to my betas like a few days ago and my one sent it back with corrections but i haven't got it for some reason, i think the email's messin up or something. i decided i'd post this version now and when i got the fixed version back i'll repost it so it's better. Oh and by the way nobody's noticed the intentional typo yet, it's in ch. 15. i tried to make this one longer for y'all, hope you like it and thanks to Bookworm37 for the idea of Sam and Jay!_

Sam flew down the dirt road as fast as she dared in Jack's baby, his truck. She knew she had to get to Jay before too much time passed and the fledgling relationship between father and son would be destroyed forever. She remembered what it was like with her own father and brother, how Mark's resentment had torn their family apart. She didn't want that to happen to Jack.

As she wove her way through the small town, looking for Steph's grandfather's place, she couldn't help but wonder how she'd be received. No one knew what had sent Jay off the way he did, but she was sure it was completely unintentional; a misunderstanding on all parts involved. She didn't know anything about the McGrady's, only that the big man, Darren, hated Jack for some reason, but that had been all Daniel had told her.

She finally found the place just as she was reaching her whit's end and pulled into the driveway. The house wasn't all that large, but definitely owned by one of the richer families in town. She wasn't sure what she was going to say when she knocked on the door and just sat there, composing herself for a moment.

She lowered herself out of the cab, mindful of her knee. It was completely healed, but she was careful, just in case. As she made her way up the front walk, she thought of what she'd say when the door was opened. She had a different scenario for each person she could imagine would be at the house.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Sam gently knocked on the door, in case Lilly was sleeping. She didn't want to be responsible for waking the baby up. She waited patiently until a man who looked to be in his mid sixties, with solid silver hair, opened the door about halfway.

"May I help you?" he asked in a heavy Irish accent.

Sam was momentarily startled when the man spoke, but quickly recovered. "I'm looking for Colin O'Neill. His brother told me he'd be here."

"Please, come in. I'll let Stephie know you're here." He opened the door enough for her to squeeze through and directed her to the living room. He disappeared down the hall before returning to sit across from her.

"I'm Corin McGrady," he said, reaching out his hand to shake hers.

"Sam Carter."

"So, what did that idiot say to put his foot in his mouth this time?" he laughed, as he rested his right ankle on his left knee.

"That's actually what I'm here to find out." Sam sighed, running her hands over her face.

"I take it Jack said something and Jay stormed out before anyone could talk to him?" Corin shot her a knowing look, which could only have come from years of experience with Jack O'Neill.

"Something like that."

"This feud… between my son and Jack, it's been too much. It hurt Stephanie and Jay more than Jack not being here."

Sam's eyebrows jumped up hearing the older man talk. "So that's what this is about?" She was beginning to understand what must have happened.

"They didn't say, but I don't doubt it. Darren disowned Steph when she married Jay. I'm sure he thought his father would feel the same way." Corin saw Steph start to enter the room from where he was sitting and got up to leave the girls alone. "Just remind Jack when you see him later that I never blamed him for his mother's actions."

Sam nodded and closed her eyes, not noticing Jack's daughter-in-law standing in the room. She still had yet to figure out what to say to Jay. Nothing really seemed adequate.

Steph cleared her throat, catching Sam's attention. "Sorry." She entered the room and took the chair her grandfather had vacated. Not really knowing where to start, the two women just looked at each other, not a word spoken between them.

"Why did Jay run?"

Steph laughed nervously, obviously knowing this was going to come out at some point. "Do you want the truth or what Jay'll tell you?"

"Both," Sam answered honestly.

"He'll tell you it was to protect his daughter, and me. He's scared, though. Scared that Jack would react the same way my father did." Steph just shook her head at her husband. "It surprised him how much he actually liked Jack once he met him. He thinks Jack was telling him about our fathers so he could tell him _why_ he wasn't going to see us anymore and Jay just thought Lilly might change his mind until he started talking."

"I think Jay misunderstood. Jack's only weakness is children." Sam smiled, Cassie immediately popping into her head. Jack had been like a father, or maybe a favorite uncle, to her since they'd brought her back from Hanka the first year the Stargate Project was in full operation.

"You should probably be talking to Jay, but he disappeared as soon as we got here."

"Right. He probably won't talk to me anyway."

Steph stood up and headed back towards where she'd come from. "I should go and see if I can find him for you."

Sam nodded and watched her walk away. This was going to be harder than she though, now that she had a little insight into the head of one Jay O'Neill. She was still having trouble figuring out what she was going to say to him. She didn't know how he would react to what she wanted to say to him. In the end she just shrugged her shoulders and decided to wing it.

Jay entered the room, rubbing his eyes with one hand and hanging tightly onto his daughter, like a shield separating him from the older woman in the room.

"Hi," Sam said, nervously wringing her hands together.

"He didn't have to send you out here. I have nothing to say to him." Jay stood at the other end of the room, not letting himself get close to Sam.

"I don't think he knows I'm here, unless my father said something. I saw how you guys connected back there, and I don't want to see you throw it away."

"There's nothing there to throw away."

Sam stood up, clearly frustrated. "What about Lilly? He's met her once, and he already loves her deeply. You're throwing away her relationship with her grandfather."

"It's not like she's old enough to remember him," Jay scoffed.

"You think he's not gonna try and contact her when she gets older?" She sighed before plopping down onto the couch. "Sit. I want to tell you something."

Jay glanced at her skeptically, but sat in the farthest chair from her. He cradled his daughter, but this time instead of positioning her like a shield, he held her more like his security blanket, rocking her to make sure she stayed sleeping.

Sam took a deep shuddering breath while she collected her thoughts. She sighed and looked up into the young man's eyes, her own shining with tears.

"When I was a kid, my father was never home. The Air Force always had him away on missions, or when he got high enough in the ranks and commanded the base, he just stayed there until after my brother and I were in bed.

"One afternoon, when I was fifteen, I was baking cookies for my mom. She was coming home from visiting my uncle and my father was supposed to pick her up from the airport, but he was running late and my mother got a cab. They were hit by a drunk driver on the way home. My mother didn't live.

"My brother was like you for a very long time. To Mark, he was no longer my father's son. He painted me with the same brush. My father and I have only recently met my niece and nephew."

She didn't want to actually hold a conversation with Jay, she just wanted to give him something to think about.

"I don't want to see the three of you go through what my family did for so many years. Just give them a chance, both Sean and Jack."

She clapped her hands on her knees, patted him on the shoulder and walked out the door to the truck. She had no clue what he would think, if he'd show up tomorrow at the barbeque, but she gave it her best shot in hopes that he'd change his mind and let Jack in.

On the drive back to the cabin, all she could think about was Jack's reaction to her and his anger, obviously with Jay, but directed at her. Granted, she didn't do a very good job of communicating in the first place, but she was still scared.

Their relationship was still young. Oh, they'd known each other, worked together for a few years now, but they'd only been romantically involved for a matter of weeks really. A month. She knew how he felt about her, and she didn't think they were rushing it, but there were situations they hadn't been in yet that would definitely put a strain on them.

She knew she was in the wrong, for sure, when she'd yelled at him after Jay's departure. She shouldn't have yelled at him the way she did. For all intents and purposes her experiences with Colonel Jack O'Neill told her it would have been he who had been in the wrong. She hadn't counted on his son being just as stubborn as he.

She pulled up just in time to see Teal'c, Daniel, and Cassie bringing food into the house, fresh off the grill. She could only assume everybody else was inside, setting up. She grinned at the sight Daniel and Cassie made walking together. She was so glad to see how accepting Cassie was of Daniel and Janet's relationship. It had been one of the biggest contemplations Janet had talked to her about before agreeing to dinner with Daniel.

Jack greeted Sam when she walked through the front door, grasping her arm lightly and giving her a soft kiss. "I know where you went," he said. His voice was sad as the realization Jay and his family weren't with her finally hit him. "You don't have to fight my battles, Sam."

"Jack," she sighed. "I watched my father and brother hurt each other for years. All I did was talk to him about that." She kissed him back and smiled. "C'mon, I'm starving."

The couple joined their family at the table. Jack had no clue how they managed to find enough chairs to seat all nine people, hell, he didn't even know he _owned_ that many chairs.

Jack sat at the head of the table, Sam on one side, Matt on the other. Sean was directly across from him with Trish on his left. Jacob sat between the women pleased as punch to be spending more time with his daughter. He squeezed her hand gently, showing her his unwavering support. She smiled back at him, proving she was right where she wanted to be.

Cassie grinned back at Sam, loving being scrunched between Daniel and Teal'c. Teal'c was strong, a protector, someone she felt comfortable and safe around, while Daniel was loving and gentle, understanding, and, she could tell, was deeply in love with her mother, Janet.

Jack surveyed the people sitting around his table. This was his family, almost all of it. Even if some of them were only close friends, they would stick by him through thick and thin, and he them, though he would deny such sappy feelings in a heartbeat.

None of the conversation broke out until everybody had a piece of fish on their plate along with a mix of green and wax beans, and home fries. Jack, Daniel, and Sean all dished out plates for Sam, Cassie, and Trish. The three girls and Teal'c all drank sodas, Cassie because she wasn't old enough, Trish because she was pregnant, and Sam because, well, there was always the possibility, right? The rest of the guys drank beers, putting a dent in their dwindling supply.

"So, for Sam's sake, my pond _has_ fish in it, or at least it did. Cassie, on her first cast _ever_ caught the huge bass we are now going to consume. Way to go, Cass." Jack held his beer bottle up in a toast while everybody laughed and took a drink from whatever they had in front of them.

The meal continued while jovial conversation was carried on around the table. For the most part, Jack and Sam sat back and watched the group, their family. Most of the topics had to stay away from work for the only two occupants of the room who didn't know what happened under Cheyenne Mountain, but they never ran out of things to talk about.

Sean put down his fork and swallowed visibly before turning to Sam. "What'd Jay have to say?"

Sam finished what was in her mouth before replying. "Nothing. I didn't give him a chance to say anything. I just wanted him to listen."

Sean nodded. He hadn't a clue what Sam would have had to say to his brother, but it probably made a world of difference. He barely knew the woman and, but her soft demeanor portrayed an air of calm, and the soldier in her let everyone else know she was in control.

The rest of the meal was spent joking and telling stories, the ones they were allowed to reveal anyway. Dessert was simple Neapolitan ice cream and once they were done, most everybody retreated to either the back deck or the living room.

Sam and Jack stayed in the kitchen washing the dishes, hoping to catch up on what was left of the day.

"Listen," Jack started, not sure how he was supposed to say what he was feeling. "The way I acted earlier was way out of line, especially with you."

"It's okay." Sam shrugged, smiling, and continued drying the plates.

"No, it's not." He gently took the plate out of her hand and pulled her into his embrace.

"We were both in the wrong. I shouldn't have assumed it was your fault." She kissed him softly on the lips and looked him straight in the eye. "If we're going to make this work, we have to communicate better."

She laughed seeing the uneasy look in his eyes and hugged him tight. Turning back to the dishes the two finished them in companionable silence, and joined their family in the living room.

Two hours later Sean looked down at his shoulder where his wife had fallen asleep while they sat on the couch, conversing with Jack, Sam, Daniel and Teal'c. Cassie had fallen asleep the hour before on Daniel's lap.

"I should probably be getting her back home," he said rubbing Trish's shoulders. He kissed her on the forehead and looked over at Daniel. "And you should probably put her to bed."

Daniel nodded up at the young man and smiled. "Teal'c could you…"

"Indeed." Teal'c stood and picked up Cassie out of Daniel's lap.

"We'll be over tomorrow, Dad. Goodnight." Sean helped Trish up and to the door so he could get her to the car.

"Could you give your grandfather a ride back to the other cabin? He walked over with me earlier," Jack said from his position on the couch next to Sam.

"Sure."

Jack stood up and gave Sam's shoulders a quick rub before heading out the back door to Jacob and Matt. He came back in with the two of them following him in.

"Jacob's gonna go back with you guys." He walked forward and gave Sean a pat on the arm. "See you tomorrow."

The group closed the door after them, leaving Sam and Jack alone in the living room. Sam looked up at him, her eyes pensive with the look she always got when in deep thought.

"Sam?"

She grinned when he cocked his side to the head like a confused puppy, just like Rico usually did.

"How… I mean, when… I…" She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Jack, when do you, um, want another child?"

He smiled down at her sweetly. "I told you, Sam. I don't want children unless you're ready and willing. I want you to be comfortable with the idea before we even broach the subject."

"What if I told you I'm comfortable with it now?"

"Are you sure? I mean it's a big step, huge."

Sam ran her hand through the hair on the side of his head and cupped his neck. "Jack, I wouldn't have brought it up if I wasn't sure."

"So, any qualms about starting right away?" he smirked back at her.

"No. Of course, there's the possibility that we've already started."

Jack's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "Are you?" His voice hitched with the hopeful tone he couldn't hold back.

"I don't think so. At least I'm pretty sure Selmak would have said something to me, but we haven't done anything to prevent it."

She giggled as he swept her up into his arms and carried her into the bedroom. She may not have her position on SG-1 anymore, but they were still her family, and it gave her this chance with Jack, the man she was well and truly in love with.

A half hour later, as they lay together in each other's arms, Sam was thinking about the get together the next day.

"Jack, I think we should tell everyone tomorrow," she said, laying her head on his chest.

He stroked her hair and planted a kiss on the top of her head. "I think it's _our_ business that we're trying for kids."

"Not _that_, you Ding Dong," she laughed. "I mean about our engagement."

"I know, I was just… joking, yeah that's it." He squeezed her tighter, pulling her into his chest. He couldn't believe he could love anybody as much as he loved Sam, at least not after Karol, and Sara and Charlie.

"We'll have to wait for my dad to get here," he added.

"I thought he would be heading over with your mother, or Sean and Trish?"

"He's, uh, taking my mom to the airport first thing in the morning. We probably won't be seeing her again." He sighed and ran his free hand through his hair.

Sam suddenly leaned up on her elbow and stared into his eyes. "What happened."

"Now that everything's out in the open, she's free of us. And I think my father's sick of being lonely. My mother was forced to marry Dad, because she was pregnant with me and Kayli. Kayli, uh, died when we were only a few days old, and uh, that was the only time my parents ever had, well, you know. My dad was the only source of love in our household."

She hugged him tight, knowing he would have used that to make sure he was the best father ever to Charlie and any children they had in the future.

"I love you, so much Jack. Our kids, and yours, will know our love, for them and each other."

"God, woman, you're wonderful!" Jack flipped her over and kissed her deeply. "We should get some sleep before tomorrow."

They laid together, curled in each other's arms, ready for whatever tomorrow was going to throw at them, but for now, they were going to enjoy what was left of their night, together.

_A/N: So, what'd ya think? I hope you liked it. One more ch. before they get back into the thick of things at the SGC. i hope to get them out sooner than this one! please review! i love hearing it, even if you yell at me for something!_


	45. Ch45

45) Jack woke up before the sun the next day, eager to get up and going. He felt Sam's body laying against him, her sweet smell wafting into his nostrils. This was what he had to look forward to for the rest of his life. Oh yeah, this rocks!

Trying to disentangle himself as carefully as he could without waking her, he silently climbed out of bed, rustling around to find his swimtrunks wherever he'd last seen them. He heard Sam move on the bed and quickly whipped around to make sure he hadn't woken her. Seeing her eyes still closed as she rolled over, he sighed in relief, pulling his trunks up.

He made his way as quietly out of the cabin as possible, hoping nobody else would hear him sneak out. He didn't pay any attention to where he dropped his towel, just as long as it stayed dry, and launched himself off the dock and into the water.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

This was his thinking time, and usually he'd do it every morning, but he hadn't had the chance to swim since he'd arrived. They'd been busy or just taking the time together and he knew Sam liked to swim later in the day, once his pond warmed up a little, but he couldn't use that time for himself. Too many people around.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

He wasn't going to see his mother again, that was for sure. Not that he minded, anyway. He was getting way more out of it than he was losing. His mother really was just that, a mother, not a mom. She stayed home when he was little, but that had been expected of her, but he always knew she hated it. She'd rarely paid any attention to him. In all actuality, he'd always known it was most likely that he reminded her of the _terrible_ mistake she'd made, throwing away a marriage to a rich Irishman.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Tag.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

His father on the other hand, had been a great dad. He'd always tried as hard as he could to give his son the best life he could. In Ireland, the O'Neill's had been in the service of the McGrady's for longer than Jack knew. It was humorous to him, McGrady being a typically Scottish name. But then again, somewhere in their history, the McGrady's had moved from Scotland to Ireland, employing an O'Neill upon arrival, and later taking them with the family to America.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Matthew O'Neill had been the last to be in the service of the McGrady's. Corin hadn't fired him even after the two men had found out about Maggie's pregnancy. Corin McGrady had known from the beginning that it was Margaret Williams, the sweet little American girl who'd seduced his stable hand. Matt had had no idea who she was and though the two had been young, he'd been enticed by her. That was how seventeen-year-old Matthew O'Neill found himself the father of twins, his daughter having passed on, while he still had his wonderful son to spoil, and the husband of a sixteen-year-old woman who just happened to resent him.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Growing up could have been easier, he supposed, but his mother had never actually been mean to him. She'd never said an ill word to him, or punished him, or praised him. Mostly, she'd just ignored him.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Tag. Schloop. Schloop.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

"_Muvver, I wanna play."_

"_Jonathon, you are four years old, talk like a human being."_

"_Will you play wiff me?"_

"_No."_

"_But it's my birfday." Tear._

"_Go find your father."_

"_He's my Daddy!"_

"_He's your father. And don't you yell at me."_

"_God's the Father!"_

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

"_Mother."_

"_Mother."_

"_Jack, maybe you should leave her alone for now."_

"_But, Dad, I just wanted to tell her I made Captain. I was hoping maybe she'd come to a game this year."_

"_You have two more years and all of college. Maybe we'll get her to one of those."_

_Sigh. "Yeah. Maybe."_

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

One ring. Two rings. Three rin-

"_Hello?"_

"_Dad!" Huge ass grin._

"_Jack?"_

"_It's a boy, Dad! Charles Tyler." Grin still growing._

"_Congratulations." Shouting. "Maggie, it's a boy!"_

_Rustling._

"_Johnny. Johnny? It's a boy?"_

"_Yes, Mother."_

"_Oh, Johnny. We'll have to come and visit."_

_Sigh. "Yes, Mother."_

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Tag. Tag. Tag.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

And that's what it finally took. Almost thirty years and the birth of his son to get her to open up and talk to him. She was even friendly towards him. For ten years he'd actually had a mom. One like Sara had, one like Karol had. Until Charlie's death, he'd actually felt like a normal family. Then everything just fell apart.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

He wasn't going to let that happen again. He had a family again. If his mother wanted to be stubborn and throw it all away, that was fine with him. He wasn't going to let it bother him. He just wished Charlie were still alive to meet his older brothers. He would have loved to see that. He was sure Charlie would have loved having two older brothers even if they were eleven, twelve years older.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Stroke, stroke.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Yep, life was getting better. And as much as some facts of his life were sobering and made him feel old and worn out, he couldn't be happier. He could, but the Goa'uld were the ones who brought people back from the dead, not him. Well, no that wasn't true, he'd lost count of how many times Daniel'd bit the bullet.

Practically choking on the stirred up lake water, Jack chuckled to himself and pulled himself out of the water onto the dock. Two bodies exited the water on each side of him and panted as they tried to catch their breaths. Reaching behind him, Jack grabbed his towel and wrapped it around his shivering body. Swimming might be a workout, and though it was summer, the sun wasn't fully up yet and that meant the weather in northern Minnesota was still chilly.

"Can't keep up with your old man, eh?" he snickered as he calmed his own breathing and rubbed the towel over his dripping hair. He glanced to his left and brown eyes connected with twinkling hazel as Sean shook his head laughing.

"I haven't swam all the way across the pond since we were in high school and used to race each other." He wiped his body down, keeping the cool morning air from chilling him.

Jack turned to his right expecting, yet still surprised to see Jay sitting next to him. Blue eyes would not connect with his own, also expected, and he sighed. "Sam shouldn't have gone to see you yesterday."

"Sorry to be such a burden," Jay snapped back, keeping his eyes fixed on the other shore.

"Dammit, I didn't mean it like that." Jack stood up and started pacing, the towel wrapped around his waist. He was frustrated, this conversation so not going where he wanted.

"Sure." The kid was definitely a chip off the old block. Sarcasm just dripped off of him.

Sean threw his towel down and glared at the two men. "Will you two grow up already!" He turned to Jay, his hands closed into fists at his sides. He brought one finger up and jabbed his brother in the chest. "You! Dad's trying to apologize. Let him talk. And you, quit talking in damn riddles."

Jack smiled. Being reprimanded by his own son was something he'd never thought would happen that's for sure. "Jay, _I_ should have gone to find you. _That's_ what I meant."

"It's a good thing you didn't." There was no elaboration, but Jack was pretty sure there was a 'you woulda been thrown off the property' attached there somewhere.

"Lilly's a beautiful little girl." The change of subject was something they both needed. Sean smiled behind their backs. It was going to be a long day, but so far, it looked like it was turning out okay so far.

"She's my pride and joy." Their eyes finally connected and Jack recognized the twinkle in his son's eye. It was the same thing everyone used to see when they looked into his own.

"See! This is what I mean," Sean said, breaking into their conversation. "Both of you are too stubborn to apologize, so there's undercurrents here, but you keep resolving all your issues, so there's nothing left to be upset about."

Jack leaned back on his hands, his feet dangling over the edge of the dock as a small smile played across his lips. He raised his face to the rising morning son and sighed. "Yup. He's just like your mother."

"I coulda told you that," Jay replied, skipping a rock across the water he'd picked up from the shore.

Jack's heart sped up momentarily as he watched Jay's fluid motions. "Charlie used to do that."

"What?"

"Sit out here for hours and skip rocks while I was fishing. And everybody wonders why I never caught anything. It was probably all you guys beanin' 'em in the head!"

Jay snickered.

"I wasn't exactly expecting to see you today," Jack said, his voice just barely audible.

Jay smiled shyly at the insecurity he could hear in his father's voice. It wasn't something he'd associate with the tough man he'd met or the stories of the young soldier he'd heard from his grandfather and it was comforting in a way. It showed the man was actually human.

"I wouldn't have if I hadn't been chewed out by that darling little monster I'm married to. Basically told me if I didn't wizen up, she'd head home and take Lilly with her."

Jack grimaced and ran his hand through his hair. "Yeah, that's the worst one. Sara used it on me a few times."

"Well, it nearly tore me apart. I know she wasn't doing it to be mean, but my heart just about stopped when she said it. The only time I've been away from Lilly since she was born was work and Mom's funeral."

Sean's head dropped at the somber thought. "I still can't believe she's gone."

"Yeah." Jay sighed.

Jack felt a little left out at the brothers' relationship. It hadn't been the best they could have had, but they had it. Jack barely even knew anything of the two men currently sitting on either side of him. It was pretty Damn near to perfect right now, but he knew it'd get better, eventually.

He was still thinking intently when a high pitched shout rang out from the cabin. "Uncle Jack! Look out!"

Before he could turn around and see why he was being warned, he heard Rico thumping across the dock and felt the hard, slobbery tennis ball connect with the back of his head. Rico couldn't stop in time on the slick wooden dock and the next thing Jack and Jay knew, the yellow ball of fur went flying over their shoulders between them and into the water.

Cassie came bounding up behind them, panting, and leaned on her knees. "Sorry, Uncle Jack. I thought I could make it over your heads." She barely held back a tiny smirk as Jack rubbed the back of his head.

"Don't worry about it. Not like there's much up there anyway." He grinned at his "niece" and pulled her into a hug. "So, where's everybody else?"

"Dad's still asleep, Teal'c's making breakfast, and Sam's in the shower," Cassie answered with a shrug.

Jack cocked his head at her. "What's with all this 'Dad' stuff?"

"Well, Daniel's gonna marry Mom, so that would make him my dad. I just want him to know that it's okay with me."

"You know you scared him when you started all that."

"I didn't mean to." She looked down at her feet dangling over the dock. Rico whined and knocked her hand with his nose, begging for her to pet him for her comfort.

"I think he got that." Jack smiled and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her into his side.

Sean and Jay chose that moment to break back into the conversation.

"Dad, I think we're gonna head back now. We'll see you later," Sean said as the brothers started back towards their vehicles.

"Okay." He turned to Jay. "You're bringing Steph and Lilly back?"

"Yeah."

"Alright."

Jack and Cassie turned back to playing with Rico after they heard Sean and Jay leave. They let Rico play in the water until Teal'c called them in for breakfast.


	46. Ch46

_A/N: Sorry i just had to fix one word that was buggin me! other than that it's exactly the same, and the next chap. should be up soon!_

Jack had a feeling his day was about to get either _really_ good, or exponentially bad when he saw Corin McGrady pull into the "driveway" followed shortly by an unknown vehicle which logically had to belong to Rick.

He stood on the porch, Sean and Jay on each side of him and Lilly in his arms. He drew strength from them, but he'd never admit that to anyone. Of course, it could always be that Sam had her arms wrapped around his middle, her cheek resting between his shoulder blades. He was certain the rest of his "family" was inside watching through the windows.

He watched as Corin stepped out of the vehicle and approached their little entourage. Gah! He felt like he was meeting his executioner. His heart started beating faster until the older man genuinely smiled at them.

"Boys," he nodded, heading straight for Jack.

A chorus of "Mr. McGrady" popped from Sean and Jack at the same time Jay said, "Grandpa Corin."

"How's that wonderful girl doing today?" he asked as he neared Jack.

The proud grandfather smiled and glanced down at the baby sleeping in his arms. "Beautiful, amazing and wonderful."

"I was talking about Lilly, Jack." Corin laughed and Jack knew if he looked behind him, Sam would be blushing. As it was, she was really trying to dig a foxhole between his shoulder blades.

Corin just nodded and headed into the cabin like a man on a mission. He'd have time to talk to the O'Neill men later, but right now, he figured the younger boys would want some time with their little brother.

Jack's head whipped back around when he heard the doors shut on the other car. He hadn't expected Kyle Stevens to be the first to approach him, not after their run in at the cemetery.

Kyle held out his hand and gave the older man a nervous smile. "Colonel."

"Kyle."

"Could I, uh, talk to you?" The teen definitely took after his older brother, well, Sean that was. He always told everybody what he thought and felt, never held anything back.

Jack nodded and started towards the dock where they could sit without Lilly getting too heavy in his arms.

As they sat, Kyle started his apology he'd been working out the whole twenty minutes. "Sir, I'm sorry for the way I acted when I saw you at the cemetery. It was rude and uncalled for. I just…"

"It's okay, kid. I know what it's like to lose someone you love."

"That's no excuse. Besides, it was no way to talk to a superior officer." Kyle grinned and leaned over to look at his niece. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

"What?"

"I got accepted to the Academy right before graduation. Tiff's going to college nearby. It's, uh, kinda weird, possibly ending up under Sean," he shrugged.

Jack snickered. "Oh, I don't think you have to worry about that."

Kyle was confused but chose to ignore it for now. "Well, anyway, I just wanted to apologize. I had no right and shouldn't have taken my frustrations out on you."

"It's okay, kid."

Kyle was nervous around the man, having heard about him all his life, even though he wasn't _his_ father. The man just oozed confidence and superiority and he knew if he ever got the chance to serve under him, it'd be the best posting he'd ever get, though he was certain it'd be the toughest.

Seeing his father behind them when he turned, he gave Lilly a kiss on the forehead and left the dock, looking for Sean and Jay.

"Jack."

"Rick." The old friends sat side by side on the dock, not really sure where to start. They were perfectly happy to just sit next to each other without saying a word.

It was a good thing the dock faced the west because after three hours, neither had yet to speak and Lilly had barely stirred in Jack's arms.

Jack chanced a glance next to him, and finally spoke. "Thanks."

"For what?" Rick was genuinely confused by what Jack would ever have say thank you for.

"You got thrown into a crappy situation you didn't deserve and I can't say I could have done any better raising those guys. There's a lot of you and Karol in them."

Rick sighed heavily. "They're just as much you. Not everything is how you're raised, Jack. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Jay was your clone."

"It doesn't matter. Just… thank you for doing a job nobody had any business asking you to do." Jack looked out across the lake at the beautifully rippling waters. The sun was shining, but it wasn't too hot with the soft wind blowing off the water.

"I loved Karol with all my heart, and those guys just as much as Kyle."

The two sat in comfortable silence until Cassie came bounding down to them with Rico at her side. "C'mon, Jack! Lunch is ready and you didn't help one bit!"

Jack laughed and got up, adjusting Lilly on his shoulder so she could sleep peacefully.

When their little entourage made it up to the collapsible tables that had been set up just for this purpose, everybody was milling about trying to find their appropriate places at the tables. Jack handed his granddaughter back to her parents and took his seat beside Sam.

Once everybody had as much food on their plates as they wanted, and the chatter died down to the sound of munching jaws, Jack took the time to look around at everyone gathered there. The first thing that shocked him was his father had sneaked in at some point and was sitting next to Corin McGrady like they were old friends. They were, he supposed, to some extent, because Corin had often helped the younger man when Jack was little and had never blamed the two for Maggie's indiscretions.

The other startling factor was Jay was right next to him. He hadn't expected that even though the two of them had come to some sort of truce that morning during their swim.

When it seemed like everyone was just about finished, Jack turned to Sam and gave her a nervous smile. She just squeezed his knee in return, giving him the permission he sought. He stood, and called for everyone's attention.

"Okay, so for those of you who know me, this has been a very trying week. I don't _do_ talking a lot, so this is the very last of it. This is a vacation people, it's supposed to be fun." He shot everyone a hopeful grin, willing them all to see he was joking. "Anyway, I want to thank everyone for coming up here, and for putting up with me and my emotional constipation."

"On a lighter note, Sam and I have an announcement we wanted to wait until everyone was together to share." Sam stood up next to him, leaving her left hand on the table in plain view.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Cassie screamed when she noticed the antique platinum diamond ring now gracing Sam's ring finger. "YOU GUYS ARE GETTING MARRIED!" She jumped up and ran around the table and latched onto the couple, squeezing them as hard as she could.

Sam and Jack just smiled and nodded their heads. A chorus of congratulations broke out among the rest of their group and hugs and hand shakes were passed around, all the while Cassie never let go of Sam.

When the din finally died down, Trish asked, "Have you guys thought of a date yet?"

"Not quite. Just that it'll be soon and _very_ small. You here, Hammond and Mark and his family," Jack answered for them. In reality, they wanted to get married as soon as feasibly possible, but knew they'd have to give everyone time to take off work and make travel plans.

Matt stood as Sam and Jack moved to take their seats again. Cassie had moved back over by Daniel. "Sam, welcome to our loud, obnoxious family. If this week hasn't scared you off, you're one resilient woman. My son's a lucky man."

Everyone cheered yet again. The rest of their lunch was full of excited chatter and no doubt the rest of their vacation was spent in laughter.


	47. Ch47

The two weeks flew by way faster than Jack had wanted and before long he was saying goodbye to his granddaughter and the rest of his family that wasn't returning to Cheyenne Mountain the following Monday.

On the way down to his briefing with Hammond and the rest of SG-1, he dropped Sam and Rico off in the infirmary with Fraiser so she could check out Sam's knee. He gave her a gentle kiss and headed off to the briefing.

He didn't know what planet they were going to be sent to, but he knew it was one they'd be familiar with so Sean could get the hang of going off world. He wondered how his son would handle gate travel. Most new recruits heaved their lunch the first time through, but he wasn't sure he wanted to warn the young man. He always got a kick out of their pea green faces.

Folder in hand, he entered the briefing room and sat in his usual seat next to the head of the table. Sean had taken the seat next to his and was eagerly doodling on the pad in his folder while waiting for the General to show up. He grinned when Sean stood up, dropping the pen on the table as he saluted the General.

"At ease, Lieutenant." Hammond sat at the head of the table and directed his next sentence at Jack. "Colonel, I know this isn't exactly what you expected for SG-1's first mission back, but I'm sending SG teams 1 and 17 to Edora for the Lieutenants' first off world mission."

"Sir-"

"Jack, the mining team just came back this past week. Laira's been asking for you to return. She said she had something to talk to you about. I see this as the perfect opportunity to get that out of the way," Hammond said, leaving no room for interpretation that the subject was closed.

"Yes sir."

"SG-17 already had their mission briefing. You'll be leaving at 1300 hours. Dismissed." The General stood and left to go back to his office before Jack had a chance to say anything. Jack jumped up to follow him, signaling for the rest of SG-1 to wait in there for him.

"Sir," he said, opening the General's door.

"Jack, this is not open for discussion. You're going to Edora." Hammond sighed, frustrated his best officer could get himself into this position in the first place.

"Did the mining team have any idea what she wanted to talk to me about, Sir?" He'd already decided it was useless to fight the General's decision.

"Not a clue, Colonel. Just that it was urgent."

Jack dropped his head in defeat and nodded. "Thank you, Sir. We'll be ready to go at 1300." He left the office and met his team back in the briefing room.

"You okay, Dad?" Sean had noticed his father looked like he'd just eaten a lemon when he walked back into the briefing room.

"Fine. We leave at 1300." He didn't say anything else, just left.

"Is he going to be alright?" Sean turned to Daniel, knowing he was his father's best friend.

"Not until we get back," Daniel answered, watching Jack stalk down the hallway.

Jack entered the elevator and strummed his fingers on the wall as he waited for the box to reach the desired level. He needed to blow off steam, but he needed to tell Sam where they were going first. God, he hated this. He never wanted to go back to that planet again.

When the doors opened, he trudged his way down the hall to Sam's lab and burst through the doorway without even knocking. Of course, the door _was_ already open, but that didn't matter.

"Sir, can I help you?" Sam stood from where she was sitting at the computer, going over the reports that had been filed since her accident.

"First, you can stop calling me 'Sir', it's a little disconcerting hearing that out of my fiancé's mouth. Second, I know your knee is okay, but please sit down. And third, you can help me by telling me why Hammond has deemed it necessary to send us to Edora today!" he fumed as he plopped himself down in the seat across the table from her.

"What?" Sam ran around the table to stand in front of him. Had they not been in the SGC she would have grabbed him right then and there and held him tight.

"Yeah. Apparently, Laira needs to talk to me." He picked up a pencil and started fiddling with it, trying to avoid Sam's eyes. He knew she would be hurt by that, and hated seeing it.

"You don't think?"

He dropped the pencil as he completed that thought in his head and blanched. "God, I hope not."

Sam decided to risk it, and wrapped her arms gently around his muscular frame. "I know. Why don't you go find one of the guys and blow off some steam until you depart? I'll meet you guys in the control room."

Jack nodded as his arms came around her. He took comfort from her, but unbidden thoughts rushed through his head. With everything that had happened since he'd been stuck on Edora, it'd been just about six months since he'd left that planet.

Standing up, Jack gave Sam a small peck on the cheek and whispered, "I love you" in her ear. He looked back at her as he walked out the door to find Sean. He wanted to make sure he read the mission reports from that crappy mission.

He found his son in his office, sitting at his desk and going through mission reports, looking for the one he needed. He looked up just as Jack walked through the door. "You know, you really should do something about this office, Dad."

Jack snickered. "I know. It's rumored there's a desk under there somewhere."

Sean laughed heartily and leaned back in the chair. He'd found the file he'd been looking for when his father had entered and stared at the manila cover. Sighing, he tossed it on the desk and looked straight into Jack's eyes. "Why don't you tell me what happened on that mission? I'm pretty sure there's more to it than what's in your report. I already read Daniel, Teal'c, and Sam's."

Jack sighed as he sat on the corner of his desk. "Sean, drop it. Just read the report. I'm going down to the gym." He got up and left the room, Sean just sitting there, staring at the door his father had just walked out.

Jack's sulking form and firm scowl made sure he had a wide berth throughout the halls as he made his way down to the gym. Even if Teal'c wasn't there, he could still beat the snot out of the punching bag.

Of course, the only person on the entire base stupid enough to get into an elevator while Jack was in one of his moods just happened to be one of the most intelligent. Daniel had his head tucked into a file folder as he stepped into the elevator and obliviously pushed the same button Jack had already hit when he'd stepped into the box. Jack just shook his head at the man's unmindful nature, his mood dissipating as he stared at him.

"Daniel?"

He didn't lift his head, just arched an eyebrow. "What? Oh, hi Jack."

Jack stuck his hands in his pockets and teetered back and forth between his heels and the balls of his feet. "Whatcha doin'?"

Daniel finally looked up, noting the tense look in his friend's features. "Oh, just looking over some old mission reports. Where are you heading?"

"Gym," Jack grunted, his sour mood returning.

Daniel picked up on the change of atmosphere immediately and looked up from his reports. "Jack, I know you don't want to go back there-"

"Daniel," he ground out, barely keeping his temper in check.

"Jack, I just…"

"Just what? Huh?"

The elevator reached their floor and Jack stormed away, heading straight for the locker room to change. Daniel decided he wasn't finished with their conversation and chased him down.

"Jack, you know these people, that's all. Besides, I thought you'd made friends back there."

Jack furiously finished changing into sweats and sneakers before stalking into the gym. He completely ignored the archeological puppy dog he'd seemed to have gained as a shadow and set to immediately beating the crap out of the punching bag. It felt good to let out some of his frustration, since he knew it was always bad spar with someone when angry.

Why was everybody bugging him about this? He just wanted to forget it had ever happened. Sam had brought up a good point, though. Why else would Laira want to talk to him so badly? _Just can't keep it in your pants, can you, O'Neill?_ He hit the bag hard to emphasize his point.

He didn't know what he'd do if Laira was carrying his child. He could just as well kiss his future with Sam goodbye. There was no way she'd want to continue their relationship if he had to go to another planet just to see his kid. That was, if he didn't decide to stay on Edora. It wouldn't be fair for the kid to grow up and not know his/her father. He'd want to see him/her grow up.

He was getting ahead of himself as he repeatedly punched the bag hanging in front of him. For cryin' out loud, he already had a kid that may or may not exist growing up. He wasn't sure he could even leave Earth. He had obligations here he had to stick with, including Sean and Jay. He didn't want to miss out on his grandchildren's lives either.

Gah! That still sounded weird to him. What would they call Sam, if they survived this newest curveball to their fledgling engagement? They were so new to the whole thing, and it was going so fast, he wasn't sure exactly how she would feel about everything, or if she would even want to be included in Sean and Jay's kids' lives.

No, he knew her better than that. She loved kids just as much as he did, though they'd probably be busy with their own soon, he hoped. He'd just have to talk to her one more time before they left, to make sure he knew where they stood with each other.

Daniel stood off to the side, willing to wait until Jack had tired himself out before continuing the conversation. It wasn't like he didn't have plenty to keep himself occupied until then.

He could tell when Jack's thoughts had come full circle three hours later and he'd worked through some of the more difficult issues raging through his mind because he started to taper off, not hitting the bag as hard. Eventually, he just dropped his hands to his side, and wiped the sweat off his brow. He was always surprised the older man could go for so long before tiring.

He peeked out over the top of his folder and lifted an eyebrow in Jack's direction. "Feel better?"

"Can it, Space Monkey." Jack didn't even bother looking at his friend as he stormed out of the gym.

Daniel sighed and followed the man out. He never really was one to understand when to let the subject drop, why start now?

"Jack-"

The man in question whipped around and got right up in Daniel's face, bringing their noses less than an inch apart.

"I thought you were the genius here, Daniel, or did that little vacation turn your brain to mush? We go, the Lt's get their experience, we come home."

"What about Laira?"

"What about her?" Jack turned and started walking back, hoping his annoying, talking shadow would give up and go away.

Daniel wouldn't give up, though. He just followed his friend through the halls not really paying attention to the grumbling Colonel ahead of him. He finally got the point when Jack slammed the locker room door on his face. He could have followed him, but they still had a mission to go on today, and going through the Gate with a grumpy Colonel was not his idea of fun.

Jack leaned against the door and sighed. He only had about an hour before they were supposed to leave and he was no closer to calming down than when General Hammond had told him where they were going. If that damn Space Monkey had left him alone he'd be fine right now.

Gah.

Screw it. The only person who could make him feel better was Carter, but she was busy. Oh well, he'd go bug her anyway. He wouldn't be there for long before they had to leave but hopefully it would be long enough to calm down. She had all day to make up the work he'd distract her from anyway.

He pulled his sweaty clothes off and threw them in the bottom of his locker. He'd take them home and wash them later as long as he didn't forget. He sighed as he stepped under the hot spray of the shower. He didn't want to go visit Sam if he reeked like a sweaty gym sock. Normally, he would have taken no longer than five minutes in the shower on base, but he had time and the water streaming down his head and back felt good and he didn't really want to get out.

He stood under the spray for another ten minutes before turning the knob and wrapping a towel around his waist. He pulled on his BDUs and headed to Carter's lab, a little more calm than when he'd entered the locker room. All he had to do now was grab his pack when it was time to ship out.

"Hey, Carter." He plopped himself down on the stool opposite of where Sam was diligently working on… something.

"You know, if I can't call you 'Sir-'"

Jack smiled and picked up whatever gadget just happened to be within reach of his fidgeting hands. "Sir is a title, just like Colonel. Carter is your name."

Sam sighed and pulled the doohickey out of his hands before he broke it. "Carter is my _last_ name, _Jack_."

He grinned up at her, all his love showing through his eyes. This was so new to them, being able to acknowledge their feelings, they took advantage of it whenever they could. He turned serious, though, as he thought of the upcoming mission.

"What's wrong?" Ah, yes. If there was anyone he couldn't hide his emotions from, it was definitely Sam. She always seemed to know when his mood changed, sometimes before he'd even realized it.

"They just had to pick Edora, didn't they? I mean, we could go just about anywhere."

"You spent three months there," Sam said, coming up behind him. She didn't really care at that moment if they were on duty she wasn't Air Force anymore, so she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, resting her chin near his neck. "You didn't run into any trouble the whole time."

"Oh, yes, because meteors burying the Gate wasn't a problem at all. I was just on vacation." Jack rested his hands on her wrists to hold her there. Not forcibly of course, but just enough for her to know he didn't want her to leave.

He sighed, and lifted her hands to his lips, kissing them gently. "Sam, if Laira… I just… I love you." He turned his head slightly and gave her a soft kiss on the corner of her mouth.

"I know, Jack. I love you, too." She turned to the side and met his lips with hers. "I'm behind you all the way."

He smiled, his relief evident in his eyes. He _really_ wasn't looking forward to this mission, but he felt better knowing he and Sam had a special understanding before he left.

He leaned back against her softly, letting her know he needed to stand up and she needed to let go. He looked her straight in the eyes and cupped her cheeks in his hands, rubbing his thumbs along her cheekbones. "I need to go make sure Sean has everything and grab my pack. I'll let you know what's going on when I get back, okay?"

She nodded and gave him a reassuring smile.

"We should be back fairly soon, but Hammond wants us to stay at least a couple days." Sam could see the worried look in his eyes as he spoke and knew it had nothing to do with the mission. It'd only been about a week and a half since her knee had been healed and he wasn't satisfied she was okay yet.

"Don't worry, Jack. I have Rico. Sara trained him well."

That finally convinced him after seeing for over a month exactly how well the Golden really did take care of his charge. He shifted backwards and looked under the desk where he knew Rico was sleeping. The dog lifted his head and his tail thumped loudly on the cement floor.

"You take care of her, ya hear?" Jack rubbed his foot along the dog's side and Rico's eyes smiled back at him. Of course he would, nobody'd relieved him of Sam guarding duty yet.

Jack looked back up at the beauty before him and smiled. He felt a thousand times better after talking to Sam and knew that, no matter what, everything would turn out just fine.

"Maybe you should take him over and see Trish while we're gone. This is the first overnight mission Sean's gotten since they found out about the baby." He knew his daughter-in-law was probably a wreck, worrying about not only her husband, but their son as well, and that wasn't good for her or the baby.

Sam nodded.

"Sure. Maybe I'll bring Janet and Cassie by, do a girl's night or something," she suggested.

Jack pulled her into his arms one more time and turned to leave, letting his fingers and eyes stray with Sam for as long as possible before he had to let go and make his way down to his office to collect his wayward son.

Sean already had his gear with him and was just going over some last minute reports before they left when Jack found him in his office. He also noticed the younger man had managed to clean off part of his desk.

"Wow. It does exist," he snickered as he entered the room and dropped his pack next to Sean's.

"Yeah, well, it was getting difficult to find the reports I needed. Honestly, Dad, this is awful." Sean leaned back in the chair and sighed.

"I know where things are… sort of," Jack said as he picked up a few papers off the desktop and stacking them in his in-box. "Anyway. It's time to go. Sam's gonna check in on Trish while we're gone."

Sean gave a huge sigh of relief, not at all ashamed that his father had seen it. He was worried their son would decide to make an early appearance like his brother and if that happened while he was off world, Trish wouldn't have anybody with her. He felt like the world had been lifted off his shoulders knowing Sam would be looking out for them.

"Thanks. I really appreciate that," Sean replied as he grabbed his pack from beside Jack's and the pair headed down to the Gateroom. Neither worried about picking anybody up on the way. The members of SG-17 were Major Gavin's responsibility and Daniel and Teal'c were big boys, they could handle getting to the Gateroom on time.

Jack looked up to the control room from where he was standing at the bottom of the ramp and noticed Sam standing over Sgt. Harriman's shoulder. He smiled up at her and gave her a slight wave. He saw the pain in her eyes at being left behind immediately and wished he could take her with him.

Their eyes held each other motionless as the Gate dialed behind the two SG teams waiting to ship out. He so wished she was going with them, or that they were going somewhere else. He didn't want to talk to Lara again, although Garan was always nice to talk to. Hell, right now he'd go visit the damn Tolans to avoid the conversation he dreaded without Sam by his side.

Sam puckered her lips almost invisibly as she sent him a kiss, wishing him off. Jack made a grabbing motion through the air and then stuffed his hand in his pocket, grinning up at her. He was keeping it with him while he was gone.

During their silent exchange, Jack had noticed Sean close his eyes and let his head drop towards the ground. After sending a wink up to Sam he turned around and rested his hand on his son's shoulder.

"You okay?"

Sean looked up, his eyes sparkling.

"Yeah."

"What were you doing?"

"Praying."

Jack cocked his eyebrow. "What? Like, 'Lord, we're goin' on a mission, don't let us die,' same thing before every mission, prayer?"

Sean laughed and shook his head. "No. I'm always prayin'. This was just more of a specified prayer."

"Ah." Jack raised his eyebrows quickly and turned to face the Gate as the last Chevron locked into place and the wormhole connected.

General Hammond's voice came over the intercom. "SG-1, you have a go. God speed."

Sam watched the new SG-1 walked up the ramp and through the event horizon, noticing Sean stop at the top of the ramp. Now she knew what it must have looked like to the people in the control room the first time she'd gone through as Jack pushed his son and quickly followed him to the other side. She could feel the tight clenching around her heart knowing they were SG-1 now and she wasn't included.

"It's always hard watching your people go off without you," George spoke up from next to her. She'd completely forgotten he was there.

She just nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

"Don't worry, Major, as soon as you're cleared, you'll be joining any team that needs you."

Sam started at the use of her former title. She wasn't in the military anymore, she'd been discharged. She was Dr. Carter now. "Um, sir?"

"I know, Sam, but it's gonna take a while to get used to."

"Thank you, Sir. I'm going to head back to my office now, get some work done." She looked down at Rico and slapped her thigh, signaling him to go with her, the happy dog willing to do whatever she wanted.

_A/N: Okay, im sooo totally sorry! im having a hard time w/ writer's block on this one too, so yeah and life just sux right now w/ work and gettin sick and power outages and homicides in town n yeah, soooo... well this story is almost over, just a few more chaps, and i was only going to do 3 stories, but i've come up w/ soooo many more ideas that it would just seem too crammed into just those three so i'm gonna do more and hopefully get those out quicker. please review, thanks!_


	48. Ch48

_A/N: okay, i did the best i could trying to remember what was on my other computer, so i hope it's up to par!_

_

* * *

_  
Sean stepped out on the other side of the Gate and wobbled, trying to catch his balance. _You know, he coulda warned me about this!_ He teetered backwards and fell to the ground at the foot of the Gate. His face paled as he felt his lunch threaten to make it's return on the ground of an alien planet. Yeah, like that wouldn't be embarrassing.

He was thankful SG-17, Daniel and Teal'c had already entered the wormhole ahead of him. The only person to see his fall was Jack, who'd nearly tripped over him as he came out after him.

"Woah, there, Lt., you okay?" He knelt down and rested his hand on Sean's shoulder.

"Yeah. You should have told me not to eat such a big lunch." He grinned at his father, then realized he'd been addressed formally. "Sir."

Jack laughed. "You got that right." He held out his hand, which Sean took gratefully, and helped the young Lieutenant to his feet.

Sean stood and looked around at his surroundings. It was fantastic, the beautiful landscape was breathtaking. It reminded him of the hills of Minnesota. Of course, the fact that it was a different planet made it all that more appealing. He looked over to his right and saw a deep gully covered with grass that was just starting to poke up out of the dirt.

Jack noticed where his son was looking and sighed. That's where it had all started. Not that he was complaining, he just wished he hadn't been stuck on this side of the Gate. It'd caused so much heartache on all sides, and possibly more in the time to come.

He broke himself out of his musings to address SG-17. "Captain, follow the path to the bridge. Paynan should be waiting for you. He'll introduce Adams to life on other planets." Though the mission was all seriousness, he couldn't help the sinister grin as he thought of someone _else_ having to spend the time with Paynan.

Captain Griswold nodded and led his team off in the direction of the main village.

"Jack!" A high voice rang out across the field. Sean had never heard her before, but the immediate flash of recognition across his father's face told him who it was. As soon as the recognition disappeared, the grimace showed up. Yep, it was definitely Laira.

She ran up to the group as fast as she could, nodding to Daniel and Teal'c before stopping in front of Jack. The father and son quickly noticed her well rounded condition, though it was hard for them to tell just how far along she was.

"Fair day, Laira," Jack greeted her, trying to be as polite as he could. He really didn't want to be here, on the planet with her, but he had his orders.

"Fair day, Jack. Thank you for coming." She made show enough to acknowledge Daniel and Teal'c, but stopped with a confused stare at Sean. "Where is Major Carter?"

Jack wasn't sure, but he could have sworn he caught a smirk when she'd noticed Sam's absence. Nah, maybe it was just paranoia.

"She was injured. This is Lt. O'Neill, he's her replacement."

Sean nodded to her, still slightly uncomfortable around the woman. He could barely tear his eyes away from her stomach. She didn't look as pregnant as his own wife was, but women varied, so he couldn't be sure.

"Please, Jack. We have much to talk about." She turned and led SG-1 back towards the village and her house on the outskirts. Daniel and Teal'c followed directly behind her, sensing Sean wanted to talk to his father.

The younger man just tilted his head and shot Jack a questioning look. Jack lowered his eyes and then looked up to meet his son's gaze. "Yeah, it's possible."

Sean sighed and followed the rest of SG-1 into the house. A man a little younger than Jack greeted Laira with a kiss on the cheek and a nod to the rest of the group. As they were sitting down, the man brought drinks and bread over to them and sat beside Laira at the table.

The silence was beyond uncomfortable and Daniel gave a soft cough to try and ease the tension.

"So, Laira," Jack started, awkwardly.

"Jack, I'd like you to meet my husband, Toran." She smiled and held the man's hand gently above the table.

Jack was shocked. It wasn't something he'd expected when he stepped through the Gate. In fact it was the farthest thing from his mind. "Uh, congratulations." Thoughts flashed through his head as he tried to keep the hope from being reflected on his face. If she had gotten married anytime within the first two months after he'd left, there was a great chance the baby wasn't his.

Daniel's eyebrows shot up. "I remember you. You and two of your children made it through the Gate to Earth."

Sadness flashed across Toran's face momentarily. "My oldest daughter stayed behind with her husband. Neither survived the Fire Rain."

Jack nodded in sympathy. He'd gotten to know the people on Edora and while some of them blamed him for the death of their families, some had accepted him into their village.

Daniel opened his mouth to say something when the door crashed open and Garan stood facing the group, panting.

"Mother, we need the midwife!" He bent over and rested his hands on his knees.

"Garan, what is wrong?" Laira jumped up as fast as she could and ran to her son's side.

"It's Naytha. She's begun to birth!"

"The midwife is with Cathayra. She has been having troubles since early yesterday."

Garan threw his hands in the air and groaned. "We need someone to help with the child!"

Daniel peeked over his glasses at the distraught father and raised his hand. "Um, I could help," he said in his "humble" voice.

"How many children have you helped to birth?" Laira asked timidly.

"Three."

Garan nodded and led the way to back to his own house. Even Sean had trouble keeping up with him. It wasn't a long run, more like a quick sprint, but they could tell there was an intense urgency to the way he moved.

He threw his own door open and ran straight back to the bed where Naytha was waiting for her husband to return.

"Did you find the midwife?" she asked, a strained cry to her voice.

"No."

Naytha gasped out, both in pain and distress. It was hurting!

"Daniel can help us. And Jack is here, too." Garan grasped his wife's hand and brushed the hair out of her eyes. He laid a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"Hey there," Jack whispered. He sat on her other side and held her other hand. "It'll be okay."

Sean paced back and forth across the small room, feeling more useless than when Charlie had been born. He could hear Naytha's cries from where he waited. If he cocked his head to the side he could actually peer into the other room and see what was going on, but he avoided it at all possible costs. He didn't know these people like his father did.

He knew for a fact that Garan and Naytha were the whole reason he'd been stuck on Edora in the first place.

If those two hadn't run off, Jack wouldn't have had to stay back and search for them. Of course, Jack and Sam still wouldn't have any clue as to the true extent of their feelings for each other. And Sean liked Sam. From what he knew of his father so far, she was good for him. She was probably the smartest person he'd ever know, including most of his professors at the Academy.

A small cry broke through his thoughts and he peered around the corner just in time to see Daniel place the baby in Naytha's arms. Jack brushed her sweat slicked hair back and pressed a fatherly kiss to her forehead before getting up and heading over to Sean.

"So?" the younger man asked excitedly.

"It's a girl," Jack smiled. "So far, Daniel thinks she's doing okay."

Sean shook his head with a slight smirk. "Gaw! They can't be more than… what? 17? 18?"

"Seventeen by Earth's years, which is about standard for them."

"Well, that's only a year older than you and mom."

Though Sean didn't sound bitter, and Jack knew he wasn't, he couldn't help but wonder how different the boys' lives would be if he'd been there for them the whole time. It would have been hard. His parents probably wouldn't have been sending any money, especially his mother. Rick seemed like he'd been great for them.

He was glad now, in a way, that he'd been stuck on Edora. He'd helped bring the village back to it's former status; a place Garan and Naytha were happy to raise their daughter. He was proud of them.

"Jack?" Garan's voice rang out through the small house.

Sean followed his father and Teal'c into the bedroom while Daniel left to get cleaned up. Naytha lay propped against the wall, while Garan held their baby girl close to his chest, adjusting his hold on her.

"I'd like to introduce you to Samantha."

Jack felt immediately touched by the gesture, even if he fully didn't understand it.

"Sam, Samantha?" Sean asked, confused. He was certain if he'd been there for the original mission he'd know what they were talking about. Then again, by the look on his father's face, maybe not.

"Major Carter, yes," Garan replied, looking around the room. "Where is she?"

Jack cleared his throat uncomfortably. "She was injured on a mission not long after I was able to go home. She's been removed from the team."

"I'm sorry, Jack." Garan glanced over at his mother, choosing his next words carefully. "I know how much she means you to you."

Jack felt a flush of embarrassment redden his cheeks. So what if he'd found comfort in talking to Garan while he'd been stranded? He was allowed! Right?

"Actually, Garan, it's okay." He didn't want to get into it with the young man, especially with Laira right there in the room.

"Who has replaced her?" Garan asked, staring at Sean intently. The… boy, for lack of a better word, was innately curious, a fact that had gotten him into trouble on many occasions, and his current position. But now, that curiosity was directed at the slightly older man who had taken the place of a woman who obviously meant so much to the young couple.

"This is Lt. Sean O'Neill, my son. He just transferred to the SGC no long ago."

"Fair day," Garan said smiling.

Sean grinned nervously. "Eh, backatcha."

Daniel walked back into the room, cleaning his hands with alcohol wipes. "What made you choose Samantha?" His curiosity had finally gotten the better of him.

"If she hadn't noticed how close the Fire Rain was, nobody would have survived. We were all too amazed at how spectacular the sight was." Garan colored slightly at just what had happened under the lights of the first night of the Fire Rain. He was holding the evidence there, in his arms. "We would have chosen Jonathon had she been male."

"I'm touched, Garan, thank you." Shock was evident on Daniel's face at Jack's admission. Of course, with the way Jack'd been acting lately, he was almost positive the other Jack O'Neill had really been alive and the two had been switched. He'd have to remember to check and see if the mirror'd been destroyed yet.

Jack noticed the fatigue on the new parents' faces and urged SG'1 out of the room, leaving Laira alone with the young family. Daniel and Teal'c hung back while Jack used the short walk back to Laira's to answer some of Sean's questions.

"So, why not 'Jack?' Why Jonathon?"

Jack shrugged, not fully aware of the reason himself. "Maybe 'Jack' would stick out too much. How should I know?"

Sean just nodded. "That's a little, odd?"

"I don't know, Daniel could probably explain it to you."

Sean got quiet as they walked, almost pensive. Jack saw the look in his son's eyes and over the past month and a half had come to recognize it for what it was. He wanted to talk, about something serious, but didn't know how to bring it up.

Jack waved Daniel and Teal'c back to the house and led Sean down to the waterfront. They stopped by Jack's usual "thinking spot" and sat down at the water's edge.

Had he been any other Lieutenant, he would never have stood for the tension Sean was radiating, but he could tell there was something more, personal, about whatever was going on. Now was the time for Dad, not CO.

"Okay, I've come to know that look. Spit it out." He tossed a rock into the water, sending it skipping across the glassy surface.

Sean smiled almost stutteringly, but it quickly faltered as he tried to figure out what to say.

"Dad…" he sighed, rubbing his hand over his face. "I know you and Sam are… eager… to start a family… but, I just… you guys have known each other a long time, and I get that."

He paused.

"Wouldn't your family seem that much more… enjoyable… I don't know, if you guys were married?" Sean lowered his eyes, not wanting to see his father's reaction.

"What?" Jack's throw faltered and the rock fell into the water with a resounding Kathwup. He saw the expression on his son's face, no smile , no sense of humor. "You're serious." It wasn't a question, but he had to voice his thought. He couldn't believe this! The damn kid was butting into his private life.

"I don't see how it's any of your business…" he was tempted to add Lt. and slip into CO mode, but now wasn't exactly the time if he wanted the subject dropped. He thought of something. "Wait, you and Trish never…?"

Sean shook his head. "No, not until we were married. Look, I know you're my father, and this is a really weird conversation, but it's just… Sex has always been a very, sacred, thing and people just seem to treat it so… casually."

Jack snorted. Yeah, casual, sure. Just about four years of UST and he thought they were being casual? "Believe me. Neither of us see it as anything casual. I'm not a one shot kinda guy."

Sean cocked an eyebrow in his direction. "Mom?"

"That… wasn't my fault. Your mother and I would have been married long ago if it was my choice."

Sean swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. The memory of the phone call Rick had placed to his house was still too fresh in his mind. "I just wanted to let you know how I felt about the subject," he explained softly.

"This isn't casual, or fun time, well okay, sometimes, but we want children of our own. This is for life, Sean." Jack studied his hands as if they held the meaning of life. Couldn't all the mushy, serious talk be over with yet?

"I get that, I really do."

Jack stood, brushed off his pants, and held a hand out to Sean. "Good, let's meet up with the rest of the team. SG-17's due to report in, then we're bedding down for the night."

_

* * *

A/N: Okay, so what'd you guys think? I'm really going to try to get them out fast now, i have a bit of an outline that i worked on while my other laptop was down. i got one from a friend, so i'm basically having to start all over! it totally sux, but i'm hoping that maybe now some of the ideas will flow a little easier now! please review, i'd really love to hear what you guys think, even if you hate it! and really, i accept anonymous reviews, but i'd really like a way to contact ppl just to say thanks n stuff._

_again, sorry for the wait _


	49. Ch49

_A/N: Okay here's the repost! thanks for all your wonderful reviews. there's one thing i forgot to add last time and i did clear some stuff up hopefully. Another thing is I know she'd already have her own OB n stuff, i understand a lot of that stuff, my future mother in law is the office manager at the local OB/GYN and i have 5 younger brothers. _

Sam closed the programs she was working on and shut her laptop, ready to go home for the night. Before they'd left for Minnesota, that hadn't been something she'd done all that often. Her work had always helped her relax, take her mind off of things, but she didn't need to do that anymore. She wanted to go home, even if Jack wasn't there.

Things had changed so much since her accident. At first, she'd thought it was the worst thing that could have ever happened, but that had changed once she'd gotten her place back in the SGC.

She packed up her things and patted her leg, calling Rico to her side. The dog looked up from his bed in the corner and wagged his tail, ready to leave. He didn't like staying away from his charge, but he wasn't exactly comfortable deep within the mountain. He was always ready to go home.

The two greeted the passing Airmen as they made their way to the surface, most stopping to give Rico a pat. They all loved the dog, most not knowing where he came from, but seeing his dedication to one of their favorite SG team members made most of the mountain love him all the more.

Sam held the truck door open for Rico so he could climb up into the cab. If Jack had been there, she would have forced the big baby into the back seat but she needed the comfort being alone for the first time since Jack had come to visit her. There was no way she was going to force the dog into the back.

She drove silently, listening to Rico's breathing. It was calming in her hectic world. She reached the end of the road, and flipped the blinker on to turn left. Rico whined to get her attention and when she looked his direction, he barked to the right.

Well, she was lonely and Sean's house was in that direction. She could drop in on Trish, see how the young girl was doing. It gave her the perfect excuse to avoid spending the night alone.

The trip was short. Sean and Trish didn't live as far away as Jack did. Huh? She'd never even thought of her own house when debating where to go. She hadn't been back there since before they'd gone to Minnesota.

She pulled into the driveway and shut the truck off. She hoped Trish would actually be home; she hadn't thought to call ahead of time. That probably would have been a good idea. Too late now. She climbed out of the cab and let Rico down next to her, for the first time that day actually realizing how hot it had become.

It was only about 3:00, and she knew the schools got out early, around 2:45, so if Trish wasn't home, she should be soon. It couldn't hurt to at least ring the doorbell. She wasn't really comfortable around Jack's daughter-in-law quite yet only because Jack's family still seemed so foreign to her. The two weeks they'd stayed together wasn't enough to really get to know everybody. That and she and Jack had spent a lot of their time together.

Sam reached out to press the door bell when the front door opened to reveal a tired looking Trish O'Neill. Sam immediately reached out to the younger woman, rubbing her arm gently.

"Oh, Trish, are you okay?" Sam carefully pulled her into the living room and sat her down on the couch. Rico immediately hopped up beside her and laid his head on her lap, giving the comfort only an animal could.

"I'm fine, Sam. Don't worry about me," Trish brushed her off with a fake smile plastered to her face. Sam sat back and looked directly into her eyes. "Sorry about all the boxes, we haven't really had the time to unpack yet."

"Don't worry about it. The guys are going to be gone a few days, maybe we can get that done before they get home," Sam suggested.

Trish smiled and said, "Thanks, that'd mean a lot. We've just had such a hard time settling in."

The women sat in silence for a moment, neither really having any clue what to say. When Sam looked back up she noticed Trish staring at her like she was trying to figure something out, but couldn't

"What?" Sam asked perplexed. "I got something hanging from my nose?"

Trish laughed. "No, sorry. I was just thinking. And I'm uncomfortable staying here without Sean. I don't know the area, or the people yet."

Sam knew immediately what she had to do. Rico was there with her always, and he was a great guard dog. It would probably help Trish anyways.

"We'll stay tonight."

"What?"

Sam leaned down to pet the dog's ears. "Well, Rico's great, but with Jack out of town, he won't leave my side, so I figure, we could stay here until the guys come home."

"You'd do that?"

Sam shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Trish nodded. The rest of the night was spent eating pizza (with extra marshmallows on Trish's half), and getting to know each other. Sam found she truly enjoyed Trish and they had a lot in common. All she'd known before was that Trish worked at the high school. Now she found out that she'd previously been a Chemistry teacher at the high school where Sean had last been stationed.

She was only working part time teaching summer school until the baby was born, but didn't know what she'd do after that. Sam held the same reservations. When she and Jack finally had kids, she wasn't certain what they'd do. She still wanted to work at the base, their war was hardly near the end, but she didn't want to feel like she was neglecting their children either.

That was her last thought as she stretched out on the couch for the night. Rico was in with Trish, having sensed her discomfort, and she was just bone tired.

The next morning dawned bright and early and woke Sam with a cold nose to the cheek. Rico needed out, _bad_. She smiled as she maneuvered her way around the boxes to the back door to let the poor whining pup out.

It was a nice day, too nice, and Sam decided she wanted to take the day off, maybe a few days. She had plenty of time saved up, even though she'd just gotten back from leave. She had no experiments running and SG-1 wouldn't be back for a few days. She was always just a few minutes from the base no matter where she went.

The smell of coffee reached her and she knew immediately Trish was up, although why she was making coffee was entirely beyond her.

"You know you're not supposed to be drinking that stuff," Sam chastised as she brought Rico back inside.

"It's not for me," Trish smiled. "I have orange juice to drink."

"Oh, well thank you." Sam poured herself a cup and leaned back against the counter, while Trish sat at the kitchen table. "I was thinking, maybe we could work on the nursery today. It'd be good to at least get that done."

"It would put my mind at ease just a little."

After a light breakfast of toast for Trish and cereal for Sam the two headed up the stairs to where the nursery was, across from the master bedroom.

"We have everything we need from Charlie, we just haven't put anything back together again." Trish opened the door wide and Sam could see the array of baby appliances that littered the room.

"Actually, the only thing we had assembled before was the crib. When I found out I was pregnant again, we knew where we were was only a temporary stationing, so we just kept everything packed up. We haven't done anything with this now because I'm still a little apprehensive that something will go wrong."

Sam gave the younger woman a comforting hug and said, "Well, don't worry. Whether you have the nursery set up or not won't play any factor in the health of your little boy. We'll have everything straightened out in no time."

Sam assigned Trish the task of putting everything together in the spare room while she set to painting the baby's room. She didn't want the fumes to get to Trish, so she closed the door and opened the window. The walls were going to be a shade of baby blue while the trim was a beautiful shade of cerulean blue.

After only a few hours both women were finished. Trish had all the furniture put together, it just needed to be moved and Sam was done painting the room.

"Now we just have to wait until the paint dries completely to put together the rest of the room," Sam said, smiling at Trish.

"I can't thank you enough, Sam. I didn't really want to do this without Sean here, but I know without extra motivation neither of us would have built up the nerve until too late."

Trish had stopped halfway through to eat a lunch, but the paint fumes had turned off Sam's appetite so neither was hungry. They decided to call Janet and have a girls night with her and Cassie.

They figured it would be easiest to stay over at Jack's since Sam could still smell the paint fumes drifting down from upstairs and the master bedroom was right across the hall from the nursery. She knew Jack wouldn't mind and it wasn't like they'd really spent any time at her house in the last month anyway.

The ride to Jack's was short and Rico decided to spend the whole trip in the bed of the truck.

"Sam, please, you don't have to do this for us," Trish pled as Sam started getting the house ready for visitors. There wasn't a lot to be done, but they'd left their dinner sitting out on the table the night before when they suddenly lost their appetite for food and gained one for each other.

"Nonsense. They need to get done and Cassie and Janet will be here any minute with movies and 'appropriate junk food.' You wouldn't have to suffer the doctor's version if Jack hadn't been so giddy about the whole thing." Sam smiled, elbows deep in soapy water, and nodded at Trish's stomach.

"Jack? Giddy? Now there's a sight I'd love to see," Trish laughed.

Janet and Cassie chose that moment to show up and ring the bell. Trish surprisingly beat Sam to it and opened the door to the pair.

"Hi, Trish!" Cass beamed as she started to run into the house with the movies and goodies. "Oh, yeah, this is my mom."

Janet held out her hand to her and grinned. "Janet Fraiser."

"Oh yes, I've heard a lot about you from two very reliable sources."

Janet shot an eye at Cassie who peered out from the kitchen. "Don't worry, Mom, Dad and I didn't say anything about your needles!"

"I know she's doing that on purpose," Janet said as she entered the house.

Sam finished the dishes rather quickly and the four women sat in the living room, watching chic flicks and talking about the men in their lives, or in Cassie's case, her most current crush in the 8th grade.

Trish was the first to conk out halfway through the first movie quickly followed by Cassie. Sam leaned over Trish and gently shook her shoulder trying not to startle her.

"Trish, c'mon, let's get you to a bed," she whispered. To her surprise, Trish seemed to wake up fully and tried to stand on her own. That was the first clue she wasn't truly awake. She swayed as she stood and Sam had to reach out to hold her up. The woman's pregnant form made it difficult to get her up the stairs, but they managed and Sam laid her down in the guest room.

She ran across Janet helping Cassie up the stairs as well.

"How is she?" Janet asked.

"Tired. This mission did not come at a very good time." Sam sighed and rubbed her hand over her face. "Oh, I need to run to the store quickly, need anything while I'm out?"

"What are you getting?"

Sam started ticking off the items on her fingers and spoke quietly hoping not to alert the still sleepy teen. "GummiSavers, Gummi worms, Gummi bears, chocolate, and something I didn't think I'd be needing right now." The disappointed look in her eyes alerted the doctor immediately.

"I'm so sorry. I know the two of you were very optimistic after Jacob left."

"It's okay."

Janet thought for a moment and finally answered Sam's question. "I think we're fine. We brought enough junk over tonight anyway."

"The other rooms are all set up. I should be back soon, but I'll be going to bed as soon as I can."

"How 'bout I come with you after I get Cassie settled?"

Sam nodded and headed downstairs after Janet helped Cassie into the guest room. Janet joined her minutes later and the two left to go to the store in momentary silence.

Janet let her doctor's side take over and turned in her seat towards her friend. "Maybe I should give Trish a quick check up."

"I'm sure it would make her feel better." Sam kept her eyes on the road, making sure she took good care of Jack's baby. "Trish and Sean have already lost one child."

"They sued the hospital here in Colorado Springs."

"Yeah, how'd you-"

"Sean was still at the Academy. I remember the case. I was called in to testify on the procedures started once the child was brought into the ER. I didn't make the connection until I saw Trish today."

Sam sighed and glanced over at Janet as they stopped for a red light. "Trish just passed Charlie's mark. She's terrified."

"I'll check her over tomorrow."

The two walked into the store and as Sam grabbed her essentials Janet decided to broach the next touchy subject.

"How are you going to tell Jack?"

"Not sure yet, but I can't put it off."

They finished getting supplies and left for Jack's, chatting about what the next day would entail.

Sam didn't sleep too well that night. Nightmares from Jolinar's past plagued her mind, mixed with her fears of what Jack was doing while on Edora. She knew there was no reason for her to doubt Jack's commitment to her, but she also knew how devoted he was to all children, but especially his own.

What her body had been through with Jolinar still worried her even though her father had given her a clean bill of health. This had just proven it would take time, and a lot of sleepless nights.

When she woke up the next morning she could smell the bacon and eggs cooking in the kitchen from Jack's room. His bed felt empty without him and she wrapped her arms around his pillow seeking the comfort his essence would give her. She always hated the hormones about this time, she always got depressed, but it was worse now.

A lone tear escaped from her eye as she pushed herself up on her elbows, forcing herself to get up for the day. A knock came at the door and at her prompting, Cassie stuck her head in.

"Mom says breakfast is ready. We have to leave though, so she can drop me off at school."

Sam nodded and forced a smile for her "niece." She would have really preferred to shower first, but she was suddenly starving.

Trish was standing at the stove when she entered the kitchen and sat down at the small table. Janet poured her a cup off coffee and set it down in front of her. "I know you didn't sleep well." She patted her shoulder and grabbed Cassie to drag the teen off to school.

"Janet said she'd like me to stop by the Academy Hospital for a check up this afternoon," Trish said as she set down a plate of eggs in front of Sam and sat down next to her. "Do you think anything's wrong?"

"No. We were talking last night. I figured with Sean being gone, it might help settle your nerves if she checked you out." Sam poured ketchup over her eggs and stuffed a bite in her mouth.

She swallowed and looked the younger woman straight in the eyes. "I'm just trying to help."

"I know. Thank you, it's just that we've already been seeing a specialist. We have an appointment set up for next week."

"We thought it'd be a good idea since Sean's out of town at the moment. Just a quick little check up so we can give the guys some good news when they get back." She shrugged, suddenly feeling this wasn't the best of ideas.

"It's okay. I guess it wouldn't hurt."

The two finished breakfast and washed the dishes. After both had showered they headed back over to Sean and Trish's to move the baby furniture back into the nursery. Sam did all the moving, refusing Trish's offer to help. She didn't want anything to happen to her or the little boy.

They were done in no time and headed over to see Janet. Trish was tense the whole ride over and the wait in Janet's office was dead silent other than the tapping of mTrish's foot on the tiled floor. Sam sat there rubbing her back. The air was so thick she could cut it with a knife. Had she known she was so nervous, she would have made sure she called Janet before they left. It was a good thing Rico was waiting for them in the back of the truck.

The petite doctor chose that exact moment to enter her office. "Sorry I kept you waiting." She sat down behind her desk and opened the chart she'd requested from Trish's regular OB.

"Trish, I'm going to tell you, it's been a long time since my stint in obstetrics but I'm still licensed. I've had your chart faxed over. We're going to do an ultrasound and a general exam and hopefully give your husband some good news when he gets back." Janet smiled at her and led them all to the exam room she'd set up prior to their arrival.

Trish sat up on the exam bed and moved her clothing around her protruding stomach. Within minutes the ultrasound was all set up and running.

"You're going to like this," Janet said as the picture showed up on the screen. It was a different color than she remembered her last ultrasound being and as she watched her baby, she gasped. They could see the baby's features clearly and in 3-D.

"That's him? I can see everything. His little nostrils, the folds in his fingers." Tears started flowing from Trish's eyes and Sam held her hand, smiling at her joy. Their free hands traced the picture on the screen as Janet moved the wand around on Trish's stomach. "I've never seen one like this."

"It's still in the testing phase. They're seeing how well it goes over on bases before releasing them to the public. Everything looks fine," Janet announced as she wiped the gel off of her stomach. She handed her a gown and turned to give her her privacy while she changed.

"Okay." Trish was clenching the gown in her sweaty fists.

Janet rubbed her patient's leg and sat down at the end of the bed. "It's alright. We'll just check everything out here."

Sam stood up by Trish's head grasping her hand.

After a few minutes Janet stood up and smiled at the two women. "Everything's in order. There's no dilation or any other signals that you'll be going into labor anytime soon. You're progressing wonderfully."

Sam leaned down and gave Trish a hug as best she could in their positions as the young woman sobbed her relief. "Sean'll be so happy."

Sam nodded and smiled up at Janet, a silent thanks passing between them. They were all going to sleep wonderfully that night, and SG-1 was supposed to return the next day. Yep, life was looking up.

_A/N: Okay again i'm sorry there was such a huge lag in getting any of this chapter up. i was in Tennesse right after Christmas to visit with my dad, stepmom, and 4 of my little bros, so i was spending as much time with them as possible, plus one of them turned 5 while i was there. Then like the day i got there we ALL got sick, i think my 6 1/2 year old brother was the only healthy one, we rang in the new year with that Airborne stuff. i didn't get back into town until the 14th, and i found out that my fiance had boughten me a whole buncha stuff for my new place, tv, bookshelves, unpacking my stuff, so that was really sweet. i just didn't really have the motivation for this chapter unfortunately, then add that to planning our wedding, it's just been hectic. i'll get the last 3 chaps up asap for y'all! thanks again!_


	50. Ch50

_A/N: So... Quick enough for ya! Thankyou for your wonderful reviews last time, it really motivated me to get this chapter out so quick. i did it all tonight, it's short, sorry, but i hope you like it._

_Oh, God, I gotta stop sleeping on the ground._ Jack groaned and rolled over onto his stomach stretching his back out to release the kinks. He winced when he felt the concession of pops surge down his spine. Yep, he definitely wasn't as young as he used to be. 

He rolled back over onto his side and elbowed Sean, rousing the Lt. He was instantly awake, although he savored just laying there a minute.

"Man. How many more days are we here for?" he grumbled.

"We're going home tonight. C'mon" Jack slapped the side of Sean's leg and hopping up.

The two quickly packed their sleeping bags up off Laira's floor and tucked everything away into their packs. Everyone was already over at Garan and Naytha's for breakfast like every other morning SG-1 had been on Edora. They headed over, both deep in thought.

"I miss her, Dad," Sean whispered, suddenly.

"Your mom?"

Sean shook his head. "No. Well, her too, but I meant Trish. She had to go through Charlie's birthday alone."

Jack cuffed him on the shoulder, but didn't drop it. "She wasn't, just like you weren't. Sam was with her."

"Yeah, I guess. I just didn't think it'd be this hard to leave her. Stargate. Instant travel, right?" Sean smiled sheepishly.

Jack nodded. "Hey, I know what you mean."

The two men entered Garan's home to the delicious smell of their breakfast just finishing. Laira turned to greet them.

"Jack, can I speak to you after breakfast?" she asked.

Jack jumped his eyebrows in acknowledgement and sat down next to Daniel. To say the group ate in silence would just be wrong on so many levels of wrong. The only reason they weren't louder was because Samantha was sleeping in her parents room.

Sean and Daniel decided they were going to clean up and Jack and Laira headed outside into the sun. Jack didn't miss the look he got from Toran and gave the man a knowing nod, promising to take care of his wife.

The two walked for a ways, but Jack was more uncomfortable now than when he'd first seen her after stepping out of the Stargate.

"So, uh, Toran, seems like a nice guy," Jack started.

"He is. He's wonderful."

"That's good. Where are his children?"

Laira smiled at Jack's lame attempt at small talk. That had definitely never been the man's forte.

"They are staying with Toran's sister while you and your teams are here. We did not want them to get in your way."

He smiled at her honesty. "You know they wouldn't."

"Yes, well. How is Samantha?"

Jack's face immediately lit up at the mention of her name. "She's doing pretty good. Staying Earth-side for the most part."

"You love her," Laira blurted out, grinning ear to ear.

"Yeah, I – uh, what?" He turned to her and grasped her elbow gently.

"I saw it, before she left. I guess all that time I'd been wishing maybe you'd forget about her in time." She shrugged, and continued walking until she reached the side rails of the bridge over the stream. She sat against it and waited for Jack to catch up.

"I don't think that would have been possible," he answered.

"I know. That was why I let you go so easily. I helped Toran settle Palen and Cora. We were joined about 30days after their return. We both already mourned for one hundred days over our losses. You were never mine to mourn over."

Jack rubbed her back in circles as he sat next to her. It was something he'd remembered from when Sara was pregnant. His backrubs were to _die_ for, at least that's what she used to say.

"Toran's nervous. We have only 150 days left to prepare."

Jack looked down at the ground while he mentally did the math. Five months.

"You're only four months along?"

"Months? There are about 270 days before a child is born."

"It's about 120 days."

"That sounds right."

Jack's smile broadened. He couldn't wait to tell Sam. This was great news. As much as he loved children, it made him relax knowing he wouldn't have to jump a wormhole to visit one.

"That's why you've been trying to avoid me. You thought maybe the child was yours. That was what I wanted, and what I had hoped for, but when you were rescued, I was glad it didn't happen."

Jack nodded, understanding exactly where she was coming from.

"I noticed Sean has been awfully quiet."

Jack sighed. "His son's birthday passed while we were here. He was born early and died three months, er, about 90 days later. His wife's expecting another baby and he's worried about her."

"Understandable."

Jack was starting to get frustrated. He could tell Laira was stalling for some reason. He stood up and paced in front of her. "Pardon me for being blunt," he said sarcastically. "But if the baby's not mine, why did you want to talk to me?"

"Jack… About 13 days after you left four men and two boys, one about eight of our years-"

"So about six of ours?" Jack interrupted.

"Yes. The other was maybe around ten, came through the Stargate. The boys' eyes were covered, but we didn't see them until they were being dragged back through. I thought the men were sent by you so I greeted them. When I mentioned your name the older boy started yelling his name, saying his father was Colonel Jack O'Neill."

Jack's face paled visibly and he shrank down to sit on the wooden slats of the bridge. Three sons. Two were alive and well, but one was dead. No. "What…" Jack swallowed. "What did he say his name was?"

Laira looked Jack straight in the eyes. "Charlie. He said his name was Charlie O'Neill."

_Oh God._ Jack stood up and started to walk off before he remembered Laira was still sitting on the railing. He held out his hand to help her up.

"Thank you," he choked out. "But we need to get back to the SGC immediately."

"Jack. I just thought you should know." Her eyes pleaded with him to understand.

"I know. Could you describe any of the men to me?" He stopped his rush back to the village and turned back to her.

"Just the one. He got upset when I asked if you had sent them. He was tall, big around the shoulders. He had a temper a bit like Paynan's." She smiled at that, but quickly turned serious again. "He had red hair and he wore a white shirt with a black jacket and pants. His shoes were shiny and black as well."

Only one image popped into Jack's mind. McGrady. It didn't make sense though. How would he have access to a Stargate? No, it was just his prejudice. It had to be. Other than Laira's description there was no proof it was him. Still, they had to get back home soon. At least he had some good news for Sam.

Jack grabbed the radio off his shoulder and keyed the mic. "Sierra Gulf One-Seven niner, this is Sierra Gulf One niner."

"_Griswold here, Sir_."

"Gather your team and meet at the Gate in ten."

"_Roger. Griswold out._"

"_Dad?_"

"Get the rest of SG-1. We're heading home now."

"_Got it_."

"Laira, thank you." He gave her a hug and ran off to join the teams and head back to Earth. This new information put a whole new spin on his life. It just got weirder and weirder.

_A/N: soooo, what'd ya think? please review pretty pretty please? i hope it wasn't to stupid, it's about quarter til 2 in the morning here so i hope it makes sense. i almost cut it off when Jack asks about the name, but i couldn't do that to you. that and i couldn't figure out how to cut it and make that work. so, 2 more chaps and this one's done! obviously there's a sequel in the works so don't worry, and for those of you who've been following since i first posted, the third young man won't be introduced for a while yet, maybe a few stories down the road, sorry!_

_ anyway, please r and r and maybe i can kick out the last two quickly.  
_


	51. Ch51

_A/N: Okay, as yet unbeta-ed, but i will repost once it is. Oh, and there's slight language in this one, sorry, but hopefully nothing TOO bad._

Sam entered the mountain that day, a barely contained smile across her face. She was positively giddy, on the inside. Any one observing her trek to her lab wouldn't have thought it was different from any other day she showed up for work.

SG-1 was returning to Earth today, and while she was nervous beyond all belief, surprisingly it had nothing to do with the actual mission. No, that wasn't true. It _was_ the mission, just not the _extraneous_ objectives.

She hadn't thought about Laira the entire time they'd been away, mostly because she'd been concentrating on Trish. She'd decided she didn't care what Laira had to say. It didn't change how she felt about Jack.

She was just about to open the door to her lab when the blaring Klaxons stopped her in her tracks. It was still early, way too early for the guys to be coming back, but she headed to the Gateroom anyway. As the resident Stargate expert there was always a chance she'd be needed anyway.

"Receiving IDC," Walter said as she came skidding into the Control Room behind General Hammond. Nobody'd really noticed her yet, so she stood back, hopefully out of the way.

"It's… SG-1? Sir."

"Open the Iris." Walter's hand was reaching for the palm scanner before the General had even started to open his mouth.

Mere moments after the iris slid open, the members of SG-17 emerged from the wormhole followed closely by SG-1, Jack being the last to step onto the ramp.

General Hammond approached through the side doors of the Gateroom, staring directly at his two teams.

"Stand down," he ordered the security teams. "What happened?" They weren't supposed to return until well past 1500. That was still over seven hours away.

He looked over at SG-17 and could tell they were just as confused as he was so he excused them to shower and post mission physicals.

Sam stared down at the men hoping to catch Jack's eye. It didn't take long, he was eagerly searching her out, hoping she would have come to greet them. She saw the invitation and ran down to the Gateroom. There was something there, when she looked at him. A mixture of joy and pain. She could only imagine what could have caused it, but could see how much he needed a hug. She wanted to run to him, but this was the SGC, their place of work. Their eyes connected and he muttered a barely audible, "C'mere."

As she walked into his arms, he smiled and whispered over and over, like it was his own personal mantra, "It's not mine. It's not mine."

Hammond cant his head slightly. "Colonel?" he barked.

Sam jumped, but Jack didn't let go for the time being. He kissed her cheek before releasing her with only one arm and turning to face the General.

The five followed Hammond up to the briefing room where Jack sat between Sam and Sean, Daniel and Teal'c across from them. General Hammond settled at the head of the table and Jack immediately spoke up.

"Sir, Laira brought some… interesting information to my attention." He shifted uncomfortably. Debriefs weren't his favorite things at the best of times, but this was tearing him apart.

"Two boys were brought through the 'Gate by four men not long after I got home. Laira mentioned my name, and it got the older boy's attention."

Jack swallowed, not quite sure he could continue. Under the table, Sam squeezed his knee in comfort, giving him the courage.

"Sir, he claimed to be my son."

"What?"

"Holy…"

"Jack?"

"That is most interesting, O'Neill."

Jack was pale from the emotion and visibly shaking at the thought that some… kid was out there, running around the universe claiming to be his dead son.

"We have to do something, Sir."

"Colonel, I'm not exactly sure what kind of jurisdiction we could possibly hope for. What would you suggest?" Hammond asked, his Texan accent standing out.

"How the Hell should I know!" Jack pushed his chair out from behind him and bolted upright. "Sir, this is my son-"

"Is it Jack?" George knew what he was doing, referring the to the man without his rank. "How do you know?"

"Sir, this is my son _they're impersonating_. Charlie died, and some whack job's trying to mess with my head!"

"And it looks like they're succeeding."

Jack had his back turned to the table, staring out at the Stargate. It was that piece of technology and his best friend that had brought him out of the depression he could feel trying to inch at his soul. He wouldn't let it claim a beachhead in him again, but it was trying.

"Sir," Sam spoke up softly, excusing herself from the General. She stood behind Jack and laid her hand on his shoulder.

"Jack." He wouldn't turn around to look at her. She could have sworn there was steam coming out of his ears. "There's nothing we can do right now. The trail's over six months old. I want to find out what's going on, just as much as you, but it's going to take a while."

General Hammond spoke up. "Colonel, I can't authorize any official inquiry. There's no evidence of anything other than what Laira has told you."

Sam could see the muscle twitching in Jack's jaw. It was something that happened rarely, and when it did it was significant. His eyes were cold as he stared off at the Stargate, no emotion reflected on his face.

"What if he's not _my _Charlie?"

Sam retook her seat by General Hammond and Jack could tell without even turning around she'd morphed into "Super Geek."

"It's possible, Sir," she said, looking directly at the General.

"I do not believe it is, Dr. Carter." Teal'c raised his eyebrow.

"If he came through before we found the mirror, it is," Daniel replied.

"Colonel, I will allow your team to investigate this in your _spare_ time. If any of it comes to a head, I will reevaluate the importance of the investigation. Now, how did the recruits do?" Hammond stared pointedly at Jack's back and then glanced to Sean. The young Lieutenant had a slight grin on his face.

Jack sighed and turned to face his CO. "They did fine, sir. Paynan showed SG-17 around the village."

"And Lt. O'Neill?"

Jack let the pain of Laira's words slide off his back and gave just the slightest of smirks. "He's an excellent replacement for Major Carter."

Sam shot him a pointed look, hoping he couldn't see her amusement in her eyes. "Er… not that you're replaceable… or anything, Carter," he stuttered out.

"Okay, SG-1, you're released to the infirmary." General Hammond stood and entered his office, leaving SG-1 and Sam alone.

"Hey, Dad," Sean said, resting his hand on his father's shoulder. "We'll get to the bottom of this."

"I know. It'll take time," Jack sighed. Sam gave Sean a confused look behind her fiancé's back. It was not like Jack to just roll over like that. She'd have to talk to him on the way home.

Which was exactly what _didn't_ happen.

Sam hadn't counted on getting the silent treatment from Jack, not that he was purposely avoiding he or anything, she could tell. Nor had she thought he'd ask Sean for a ride home. Jack's truck was at his house, where she'd left it, Sam having given him a ride into work the morning they left. He didn't want his baby sitting out where just anybody could get to it.

When she noticed Sean's car turn right at the end of the road leading down from the mountain, she was hurt and just a little angry. She'd tried to send Rico with him, but the dog had returned to her lab, head drooped and tail sagging. Obviously, he'd received some sort of tongue lashing from the Colonel.

Rico whined when Sam didn't immediately follow the men. She passed the turnoff that would have led her to Jack's and Rico tried to nudge his nose under her arm.

"Not now, Dog!" she snapped. Okay so maybe she was just a _little_ peeved with her fiancé. He was treating her like _she_ was the enemy.

As she pulled up outside her house, she realized just how long it had been since she'd stopped by. She'd been picking her mail up at the post office since she'd unofficially moved in with Jack, and she'd brought a lot of clothes with her so there was no reason for her to go home ever.

Rico dropped his head onto his paws and stubbornly refused to moved from the passenger seat.

"C'mon, dingbat." Sam got out of the car and opened her front door expecting the dog to be right behind her. Not surprisingly there were no messages on her answering machine, since her own message directed calls to either her cell phone or Jack's home phone.

Jack. God, that guy could be such a stubborn ass! What the hell was he up to anyway? She was trying to help him, and the idiot, because temporarily in her mind that's what he was, wasn't letting her.

She wandered into her kitchen and rummaged through the cupboards, not really expecting anything. She pulled an unopened bag of chips, left over from some sleepover with Cassie months before, and headed back into the living room for some quality TV time.

It was then she noticed the front door was still open and Rico was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, his high pitched howling cut through the early afternoon air, the sorrow plain to anyone within hearing distance.

She shook her head and stared at him through the open car door, their eyes locking. The pleading look from the dog almost broke her heart, but the fact that he perked up almost immediately and started wagging his tail cued her into the fact it was just a ploy to get her out there.

"Rico, get inside," she ordered.

"Rouwf!"

"UGH!" She threw her arms up in the air, the bag of chips still held tightly in one hand and cracked a few of the windows to give the dog some air. She slammed the door in frustration and glared at him. "You know how to open the doors, you can come in when you're ready!"

She stalked back into the house, closing the door behind her and flopped onto her sofa. It was official, this day sucked! She should have been at home… Wow, Jack's house was more home than her own was. She was supposed to be glad Jack was home and relaxing on his couch, with him next to her.

In her frustration she drifted off into an uneasy sleep, nightmares plaguing her restless mind.

"_Sam! Please help us!"_

_She turned in place, staring into the cold cement room. There was what looked like a twin bed against one wall, a desk and chair against another, and a bookshelf across the room. She walked up to the desk and looked at the papers haphazardly strewn across the table top. There were multicolored crayons spread over the papers, most were drawings._

_The one that stuck out the most, though, was what looked like a picture of a happy family. Three people and a dog stood outside a blue house, one Sam recognized easily as the house in which Sara and Jack had spent a majority of their marriage. She'd been to the house enough times during her friendship with Sara to know it. _

_The picture was obviously drawn by someone familiar with the O'Neill family. A young person at that, although it wasn't a child. Children, especially little kids had such a short hand stroke that straight lines usually ended up looking slightly curved and stuttery. They had to keep the sides of their hands planted on the paper while they tried to draw their lines. This drawing was more conducive to that of a bored teenager with nothing better to do. The detail might not have been all there, but Sam had to admit it was pretty good._

_She flipped the paper over, feeling the slight waxy feeling when she was holding the picture. She was shocked at what she saw once her eyes locked at the sight she held in her hands._

_The picture was scribbled, radiating anger and pain, dark black streaks across the sides and top. Of course, it only covered half the paper. The detail in the picture was frightening. There was a young boy lying on the floor, tears streaming out of his eyes. A man was standing in the doorway, his features blurred, almost as if the artist couldn't remember what he looked like. _

_What caught her eye were the two spots of color. The man's eyes were a striking color of blue, like it was the only part he could remember. It was creepy, Sam felt a shiver down her spine. The boy on the floor had blood streaming out of his… side? The drawing was accurate, the blood wasn't coming from his stomach or chest, but his side. _

_She was curious as to what would cause the bloody pool the boy was lying in until she saw the gun being thrown at the boy from the man. She hadn't caught that at first glance. The gleam in the man's eyes just proved he was behind it._

_The other half of the picture was drawn from the boy's point of view. The edges of the picture were a faded red. The man was standing over him, victorious in his conquest. _

_Sam felt her heart break at the emotion she felt radiating from the pictures. She dropped it to the table and glanced at the rest of the papers laying there. These were more obviously done by a little kid. There were multiple drawings of stick figures, most a little boy and his parents. A few were just of the parents, chicken scratch reading "Mommy" and "Daddy" under each figure._

_She smiled softly at these and felt the hope the artist had wanted when he'd been passing the time._

"_We're not here." A sad voice broke the silence and Sam whipped around expecting to see a young man standing there. There wasn't. In fact, nobody was there at all._

"_You need to find us. Please."_

_Sam spun in circles, looking for whoever was talking to her._

"_Where are you?"_

"_I don't know. We were blindfolded."_

_A banging suddenly broke through their conversation, startling Sam. _

"_Sam?" _

_She heard her name being called and felt nervous, almost frightened. She looked for a place to hide, but under the desk wouldn't be too concealing. The bed didn't have low hanging sheets or blankets on it either. She decided to face the lone, locked door head on and deal with whoever came through._

"_SAM!"_

_The pounding was getting louder now. She could see the door shaking in the frame from the force of the blows. _

"_Sam, please let me in!"_

Sam jolted awake as she finally recognized the voice on the other side of her front door. Jack was pleading with her, obviously knowing she was in there. Like Rico sitting in the driveway hadn't been a dead giveaway.

She stormed up to the front door and yanked it open.

"What!" She glared up at him as he stood breathless on her front porch. Rico wiggled his way between them and stared up at his master, wagging his tail joyfully. Of course he was happy, Daddy was there. His new mommy just hadn't understood what he was trying to tell her. Jeez, human's could be so dim sometimes.

"I thought you'd be home when I got there," Jack said, worming his way through the door.

"What the Hell are you doing!" Sam demanded. She planted her hands on her hips and faced Jack defiantly. "You ignore me all day, and then expect me to be there waiting for you?"

"It's not like you've been anywhere else for the past few months," Jack snapped back. He sighed, not quite sure what was happening, and scrubbed his hand over his face in defeat. "I just thought…"

"That you could control my life?" Flashbacks of Jonas popped into Sam's head. She couldn't stand it and let herself fall against the front door. "I thought you were different. What happened?"

Jack was in shock, taken aback by Sam's assumption. His heart broke thinking she may not trust him anymore. He approached her softly and knelt by her side, resting his hands gently on her arms. He gazed lovingly at her and brushed her hair behind her ear.

"I didn't mean it, Sam." Yeah, Jonas had said that, too. "I only though that when I saw you turn left that you were going home. I though maybe something had happened to you when you weren't there. I was scared," he admitted sheepishly. "Trish had to suggest you might have come here."

She lifted her head enough to look into his eyes. She was surprised to see the honesty behind his words reflected in them. She suddenly felt awful for the way she'd acted. "You just left Jack, what was I supposed to do?"

"I don't know, I was upset. Everybody, including _you_, kept telling me to be patient and let this simmer for a while. You _know_ I can't do that!" Jack's temper was starting to flare again, but Rico quickly tamped it down, nudging his nose in between the two of them.

Sam had calmed down enough now to let her logical mind take over and pet the dog, giving him her apology. She knew Jack was no Jonas. That was part of what she loved about him. He'd been to Hell and back and was still sane, as much as a five year old trapped in a 42 year old's body could be.

"I know, Jack. I'm sorry I overreacted. You woke me up from a really creepy dream and I was still a little high strung." Sam grinned awkwardly and grasped the back of his shoulder blades, pulling him into a tight hug.

Jack held her just as tightly, relieved their slight mini-spat was resolved quickly. He pressed a kiss to her head before pulling back just enough to gaze into her eyes.

"Sean said he'd help me," he brought up. "I don't know what's going on, Sam, but we're going to get to the bottom of this."

Sam nodded and kissed him squarely on the lips. "We will, Jack, I promise. Unfortunately, it'll have to be in our off time, but with all of us working on it, it shouldn't be too hard."

Jack let go of Sam and stood up, his knee creaking more than it used to. Yeah, he was too old for that position anymore. The couple moved into the living room and sat huddled close on the couch. It was a comfort they'd both missed over the past few days.

Jack grinned boyishly. "Good. Now tell me about this dream you had."

Sam swallowed nervously and recounted her tail in alarming detail, certain not to leave anything out.

"What was odd, though, was the voice sounded like Sean. Maybe a little younger."

Jack just stared at her, not quite sure what to think. He could understand why she had acted the way she had when he'd interrupted her dream. He felt uneasy just thinking about it.

The room sounded eerily familiar, yet hazy, like something he remembered from a drunken stupor. Or possibly one of the million nightmares he'd had since Charlie's death.

"Hey, it was just a dream," he soothed.

Sam understood what he was trying to do, and was grateful for his attentiveness to her needs. Her needs. Shit. She had to tell him. As much as she didn't want to, he deserved to know.

"Jack."

"Hmm?"

She squirmed slightly in his arms, her eyes fixated on a loose thread in her couch. "Remember that conversation we had at the Cabin?"

"We had _a lot_ of conversations at the Cabin. Which one?" he groaned back in response.

"The one _after_ the decision about kids."

"The 'late' discussion?"

Sam shook her head. "The 'irregular' discussion."

Jack gave her a slightly confused look before understanding dawned on him. "Oh."

"I'm sorry, Jack. Not this month," she whispered. She didn't know how he'd take it.

Jack tried to lighten the situation as he felt his gut clench in disappointment. "So I guess that means not private welcome home party for Sam and Jack?"

Sam snickered at his attempt. She had to admit, to herself at least, that it had worked. She felt a little better. "Well, not exactly. I said irregular. It's already over."

She immediately regretted saying it when hope flashed through his eyes. "Sam, that doesn't mean no."

"I wouldn't get your hopes up." Sam shook her head gently.

Jack cupped her cheek and forced her eyes to meet his. "We have more than one chance to make a baby, Sam. It'll happen."

"This coming from Mr. Patience himself, right?" she laughed, finding the humor in his statement.

Jack just shrugged. "Sure, why not? C'mon, let's get home for an early dinner. I'm hungry. I kinda missed lunch."

_A/N: Okay, here's the deal. I didn't even look over this before i posted it, so there's probably A LOT wrong with it, feel free to let me know what you find, or if anything's confusing. I just HAD to post this up tonight as a stress reliever. i spent all day at a bridal expo and man, anybody who knows me knows it was pure HELL! i want the groom's part! Just give me what i'm where, tell me where and when and it's all done! Holy Crap! that and i get claustrophobic in big crowds and there were over 400 brides there, so multiply that by at least 3 and that's about how many ppl were there. GAH! i'm just really frustrated cuz i found hardly anything that i liked. oh well, i put this chapter up in hopes that i'd feel a little better once i did. and guess what, i do. so i hope you like it and let me know what you think!_

_Oh, and there's just the epilogue left guys! i can't wait!  
_


	52. Epilogue

_A/N: Okay, i'll explain at the end, but i would really like you to still read it!_**  
**

**Epilogue**

Jack stood out on his porch surveying those gathered in his back yard, grilling tongs in one hand and a beer in the other. His melancholy mood still plagued him from time to time, usually when he sat down with Sam and Sean to try to find any information they could about Charlie, or whoever it was that had gone through to Edora. Now, however, was not one of those times.

He was fully enjoying his weekend off with his team and family. It was fun watching everybody relaxed and enjoying themselves as well. Sean and Trish were having a blast, both finally losing the anxiety they'd felt over the birth of their son. They were looking forward to meeting the baby boy for the first time in just under three months time, and truth be told he couldn't wait to see his grandson for the first time.

Oh, man, he still felt old thinking about it. His grandkids would be older than any children he had with Sam and that was just weird. Not that it was making him debate his decision, not in the least. The fact that he'd missed so much of all his sons' lives made him all the more determined that he and Sam would have a family. Of course, if it never happened, it wouldn't make him love Sam any less. He fell more and more in love with her every day, and couldn't imagine anything else.

He could hear rustling in the kitchen and spotting Rico playing with Fuzz and Cassie, he knew Sam must be back from the store. He left the steaks on the grill and walked into the kitchen to meet Sam. She was putting the bags up onto the counter when he snuck in behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Hey," he whispered, kissing the side of her neck gently. He grinned and gave her a quick squeeze before resting his chin on her shoulder. She leaned back against him and gave him a kiss as best she could.

"Hey back."

She pulled the plastic down around one bag of items and Jack's eyes widened as he saw what was in it.

"Did we buy stock in Tums or something?"

Sitting on the counter were at least a dozen bottles of antacids along with three bottles of Pepto and two Kaopectate.

"Sorry, I haven't been feeling well, and I've had really bad heartburn the past few weeks. I figured it'd be a good idea to stock up on it now so we won't run out." Sam shrugged and pulled the bottles out of the bags.

"You haven't been feeling well?" Jack spun her slowly halfway around so he could look at her, his eyes boring into her soul, searching for the truth. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's just stress, Jack. The new position is taking a little getting used to, not as much time to… play with my doohickeys." Sam smirked at Jack's favorite description of her work.

Jack nodded, knowing just how much it was bothering her to stay on Earth while he and the rest of SG-1 went out day after day.

"So, you wanna tell them?" Jack asked suddenly. He pulled her to him, hugging her close.

"Let me call Mark first. I'll meet you outside and we can announce it over dinner." Sam stepped out of his grasp to put the groceries away. Jack gave her a quick peck and headed out to the deck to make sure the steaks didn't burn.

Sam leaned against the kitchen counter and sighed. This conversation with her brother was going to be hard. Not only did he disapprove of the military, the Air Force in particular, but he hadn't met Jack yet and no doubt he'd be wary of their whirlwind relationship.

With trembling hands, Sam picked up the phone and dialed the long distance number to San Diego.

"Hello?" Mark answered the phone, the confusion obvious in his voice. He must have gotten Caller ID since the last time she'd called him.

"Hi, Mark," she replied. Maybe he could see the smile on her face. Actually it probably looked more like a grimace.

"Who is this?"

"It's Sam."

There was a pause on the line.

"Where are you calling from?"

It was Sam's turn to delay answering her brother.

"That's why I'm calling."

"Did something happen to you?" Panic was evident in his voice. As much as they'd fallen out, he'd always looked out for his baby sister.

"Well…"

"Sam."

"Okay. I got hurt, a while ago, and I was discharged from the Air Force."

"Are you okay?"

"I'd still be a Major if I was okay," Sam snapped, then winced. "Sorry, Mark. Actually, I'm getting married."

Silence answered her announcement and she wasn't sure he was still on the line.

"Mark?"

"Yeah, I'm here. You're what?"

"Getting married." Sam moved into the living room and sat on the couch, rubbing her temple.

"To this John O'Neill guy?"

"Jack, yes."

"This thing says John."

Sam sighed, exasperated.

"He goes by Jack."

"Okay, so what does he do."

"You don't want to know."

"Sam."

"He'saColonelintheAirForce," she spit out.

Obviously he'd still been able to make out what she'd said because the click of the phone hanging up and the dial tone ringing in her ear.

She hit the off button and threw the phone down on the couch, growling her frustration. She should have guessed he wouldn't be receptive, but she'd hoped maybe he'd be happy for her. He was always trying to set her up with his friends, guys from work. Now she was happy and he didn't have the audacity to hang up on her?

She felt the tears start to slip down her cheeks and angrily wiped them away. She shouldn't let this bother her. It wasn't like he'd been around a lot since he'd left home. He hadn't even shown up to her High School or AFA graduations.

So lost in thought was she, she didn't notice the back door open and Sean enter the room.

"Sam?"

She jumped, startled by his sudden appearance. He noticed immediately she'd been crying and knelt down by the couch.

"You okay?"

Sam nodded and sat up a little straighter.

"Yeah, don't worry about it."

Sean stood. "Okay. Well, Dad says steaks are ready."

"Thanks."

Sam stood up and joined everybody out on the back deck where Jack had already served up the steaks. She was the last to start eating, and when she'd finally finished, she realized she'd missed the conversations going on around her.

Jack leaned into her slightly and whispered in her ear. "You've been awfully quiet. Are you sure you want to tell them tonight?"

Sam smiled at him and nodded, her love for him showing in her eyes.

Jack whistled loudly to get everyone's attention.

"Okay, now that I have your attention. We've decided on a date for the wedding."

Cassie, the ever exuberant teen, was the first to try to start guessing. "When? Is it going to be in a long time? Who's going to be in it?"

Jack laughed. "Whoa there girl. It's going to be small and in five weeks from today. We weren't planning on having any best men or bride's maids, but we may be able to be persuaded otherwise."

Everybody congregated around the couple to congratulate them, wishing their best.

"I say this calls for cake!" Sean spoke up from above the din.

"He's definitely your son, Jack." Daniel raised the one beer he was allowed for the night in his friend's direction and laughed.

Jack nodded and pulled Sam inside to help him with the dessert he'd already planned on eating that night.

Once they were inside and away from all the attention, Jack pulled Sam to him and gave her a tight squeeze. "You okay? Sean said you were crying."

"I'll be fine, Jack. Mark, uh, he hung up on me. I think it's safe to say he won't be coming." She leaned into him, seeking the comfort only he could give her.

"Well, that's his loss then. We won't let it detract from our day. Monday I'll have the General contact the Tok'ra to let your father know."

Jack and Sam stood there, holding each other in their silence and enjoying their presence.

"Hey, c'mon, we're waiting out here." Daniel burst through the doors oblivious to their "moment." "Oops," he giggled.

"Perfect timing as always," Jack whispered to his fiancé, still holding her tight.

The couple smiled at their friend and Jack grabbed the cake while Sam picked up the plates and forks. Everything might not be perfect; Sam wasn't going off world anymore, Jay was still an uncertainty in their lives, and now this newest mystery with "Charlie," but they were happy and they would make it, together.

_A/N: So, here's what's happening. Don't look at this as the end of this story, okay,... OW! Hey, running me over with a bus won't help me get the next one out any sooner! And i caught that license plate! anyway, what i'm going to do, is revamp this a little and make it just one big story, as in one chapter. when i get the next one finished, it will be removed and the two will be posted together as one story with two chapters instead of two seperate stories, and that's how i'll do each story to finish the complete story which will be called Three Little Pigs. so the next story will really jsut be a continuation of this one, but i won't be able to put more up until i finish No Goodbye. please don't hurt me or hit me with things. _

_ oh yeah, and that typo i mentioned a while ago that i stuck in there, you should all be ashamed of yourselves, calling yourselves Stargate fans, lol. i stuck Makepeace in there just to see if anybody would catch it, and nobody did, or if you did, you never said anything! this takes place AFTER Shades of Grey. or gray, i dont' know how they spell it lol. _

_ okay everything after this will all be AU, i'm thinking i will do sort of a Sean take on some of the episodes and how it would be different. _

_ thanks for reading and please don't give up on me, i promise you'll eventually like where this goes! _


End file.
